13 Things You Didn’t Know About Thomas Pieters
1. Pieters was born on 27 January 1992, in Geel, Belgium.
2. First introduced to golf at five-years-old while on holiday in South Africa, his parents then took him and his brother and sister to Witbos Golf Club in Noorderwijk, Belgium. Playing religiously in the summer months, Pieters also fished balls out of the fifth hole water hazard at the course to sell to fellow members.
3. Pieters joined the University of Illinois in 2010, majoring in Sport Management before cutting his final year short to turn professional in 2013. Unable to speak English effectively, the Belgian used the sitcom Friends as a tool to improve his English.
4. While at Illinois, Pieters won the individual 2011 Jack Nicklaus Invitational and the individual 2012 NCAA Division I Championship. In 2013 he beat Jordan Spieth (opens in new tab) and former World Amateur Number One Patrick Cantlay to finish second with his team at the 2013 NCAA Division I Golf Championship, while also winning the individual 2013 Big Ten Conference Championship.
5. While still an amateur, Pieters represented Europe in their 2012 Palmer Cup win.
6. After turning professional in 2013, Pieters made his debut on the European Tour in July of that year. He successfully qualified to play on the European Tour later that year after progressing through all three stages of the European Tour Qualifying School.
7. 2015 proved a real breakthrough year for Pieters, as he won the D+D Real Czech Masters and the KLM Open in consecutive tournaments. This saw him break into the OWGR top 100 for the first time, ranked at 88th following his victories. His performances that season ended with him 29th on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.
8. 2016 also proved successful for Pieters, as he followed up a fourth place finish at the Olympics with another victory on the European Tour at the Made in Denmark tournament. This run of form saw Europe Ryder Cup team captain Darren Clarke choose him as his Wildcard pick.
9. Pieters’ best Major finish came in 2017, where he finished T4 at the…
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