Thomas Pieters (born 27 January 1992) is a Belgian professional golfer who currently plays on the European Tour and LIV Golf. After a successful amateur career that included winning the individual 2012 NCAA Division I Championship, he turned professional in 2013. Pieters has won multiple titles on the European Tour, including his first Rolex Series victory at the 2022 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. He also represented Europe at the 2016 Ryder Cup and competed for Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing in fourth place.
Early life Pieters was born in Geel, Belgium, in 1992. He started playing golf at the age of five, learning the game at the Witbos Golf Club in Noorderwijk, Belgium.
Amateur career In 2010, he attended the University of Illinois for which he won the individual 2011 Jack Nicklaus Invitational and the individual 2012 NCAA Division I Championship in his second year; the next year, he finished second with his team at the 2013 NCAA Division I Championship and won the individual 2013 Big Ten Conference Championship.
Professional career In summer 2013, Pieters decided to forgo his senior year at the University of Illinois and turn professional. He made his debut on the European Tour in July at the Alstom Open de France, where he finished 29th; at the end of the year, he battled through all three stages of the European Tour Qualifying School taking the 20th card at the Final Stage, and qualified to play on the European Tour.
His best result in his first year was as runner-up in the 2014 Open de España, leading after the second and third rounds, finishing 6th at the Russian Open Golf Championship and 8th at the 2014 Malaysian Open and at the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Championship. He finished the year ranked No.243 in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), having ended the previous year at No.1122.
In 2015, he started with a 4th-place finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship which took him to No.156 on the OWGR. In August and September, he won the D+D Real Czech Masters and the KLM Open in consecutive tournaments played and moved into the top 100 in the OWGR. The two wins and five top-10 placements of the season gave him a final 29th place in the Race to Dubai.
Pieters started 2016 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, where he finished 2nd. In August, he represented Belgium at the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing in 4th place. In the same month, he obtained a second place at the 2016 D+D Real Czech Masters and won the 2016 Made in Denmark. He was chosen by Darren Clarke as a captain's pick for the 2016 Ryder Cup.
Pieters opened the 2017 season with a tie for 2nd at the Genesis Open in February and followed that up with a top-5 finish at the WGC-Mexico Championship. Those finishes moved Pieters to 29th in the Official World Golf Ranking and qualified him for his first Masters Tournament where he finished 4th. He capped a successful summer with his second top-5 finish at a WGC event when he finished 4th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. That finish moved him into the top-25 of the OWGR. In September 2017, the European Tour announced that it would be returning to Belgium for the first time in 18 years with Pieters hosting the Belgian Knockout – a unique strokeplay and matchplay format – in May 2018.
In November 2018, Pieters won the 2018 World Cup of Golf with partner Thomas Detry, representing Belgium, at Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia.
In August 2019, Pieters shot a 3-under 69 to become the first golfer to win the D+D Real Czech Masters for the second time, beating Adri Arnaus by one stroke.
Pieters claimed his fifth European Tour victory in November 2021 at the Portugal Masters. Two months later, Pieters won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship for his sixth European Tour win and first Rolex Series victory.
In February 2023, it was confirmed that Pieters had joined LIV Golf as a member of Bubba Watson's Range Goats team. In December 2024, it was announced that he was joining Dustin Johnson's 4Aces team for the 2025 season.
Amateur wins 2009 International of Belgium Junior Championship 2011 Jack Nicklaus Invitational, Belgian Stroke Play Championship 2012 NCAA Division I Championship, Monroe Invitational 2013 Big Ten Championship
Professional wins (7) European Tour wins (6) Legend Rolex Series (1)Other European Tour (5) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-up130 Aug 2015D+D Real Czech Masters−20 (66-68-65-69=268)3 strokes Pelle Edberg213 Sep 2015KLM Open−19 (68-66-62-65=261)1 stroke Eduardo de la Riva, Lee Slattery328 Aug 2016Made in Denmark−17 (62-71-69-65=267)1 stroke Bradley Dredge418 Aug 2019D+D Real Czech Masters (2)−19 (67-67-66-69=269)1 stroke Adri Arnaus57 Nov 2021Portugal Masters−19 (68-64-65-68=265)2 strokes Lucas Bjerregaard, Nicolai Højgaard, Matthieu Pavon623 Jan 2022Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship−10 (65-74-67-72=278)1 stroke Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Shubhankar Sharma
European Tour playoff record (0–2) No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result12014Open de España Richard Green, Miguel Ángel JiménezJiménez won with par on first extra hole22022BMW International Open Li HaotongLost to birdie on first extra hole
Other wins (1) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreMargin ofvictoryRunners-up125 Nov 2018ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf(with Thomas Detry)−23 (63-71-63-68=265)3 strokes − Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, − Abraham Ancer and Roberto Díaz
Results in major championships Results not in chronological order in 2020. Tournament201620172018Masters TournamentT4CUTU.S. OpenCUTThe Open ChampionshipT30T44T28PGA Championship86CUTT6 Tournament20192020202120222023Masters TournamentCUTT48PGA ChampionshipT23CUTT71T40U.S. OpenCUTT23T27CUTThe Open ChampionshipT67NTT28T71
CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" indicates a tie for a place NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeMasters Tournament 0 0 0 1 1 1 4 2PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 5U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 2The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6Totals 0 0 0 1 2 4 22 15 Most consecutive cuts made – 5 (2022 PGA – 2023 PGA) Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)
Results in The Players Championship Tournament2022The Players ChampionshipCUT CUT = missed the halfway cut
Results in World Golf Championships Tournament 2015 2016 2017 20182019202020212022ChampionshipT5T37Match PlayT28T30T52NT1T26Invitational4ChampionsT23T14T71T18NT1NT1NT1 1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = tied NT = No tournament Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.
Team appearances Amateur European Boys' Team Championship (representing Belgium): 2009, 2010 (winners) Jacques Léglise Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 2010 (winners) Eisenhower Trophy (representing Belgium): 2010, 2012 European Amateur Team Championship (representing Belgium): 2011 Palmer Cup (representing Europe): 2012 (winners)
Professional Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 2016 World Cup (representing Belgium): 2016, 2018 (winners) EurAsia Cup (representing Europe): 2018 (winners) Hero Cup (representing Continental Europe): 2023 (winners)
See also 2013 European Tour Qualifying School graduates
References
External links