After a 2016 to remember, which began with a runner-up finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Thomas Pieters is looking forward to 2017 with major relish.
The Belgian has enjoyed a steep ascent the past two years, but last season represented a personal highlight, with a third European Tour victory on the CV, fourth place at the Olympics and a starring role for Europe on debut at the Ryder Cup.
Little wonder that, as Pieters prepares to keeping the good times rolling through the next 12 months, he struggles to put into words those that went before.
"I literally cannot begin to describe 2016," he said in an exclusive interview with The National ahead of this week's return to Abu Dhabi, his first competitive outing of the new campaign. "I couldn't believe how well 2015 went, winning back-to-back for my first European Tour events, but to start the year how I did last year in Abu Dhabi and go on to win later in the year, and play Ryder Cup and the Olympics, was a dream come true.
“After Abu Dhabi I just seemed to gain confidence as the season went on. I’m hoping to put in another good performance to back up last year.”
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Read more on Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
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■ Information: Tickets, schedule and everything you need to know
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That doesn’t seem too much of a stretch. Pieters may be ranked just inside the world’s top 50 at No 49, but he is regularly tipped to be the next first-time major champion from Europe. Undoubtedly, he has the game – he is one of the tour’s longest hitters – but the latter half of 2016 proved he has the gumption, too.
In August, the week before Darren Clarke confirmed his team to take on the United States, Pieters won in Denmark to convince the Ryder Cup captain he warranted the final wild-card pick. Once there, he embraced the clash like few outside the European camp would have anticipated.
Pieters took four points from a possible five at Hazeltine, finishing as the event’s leading points scorer and contributing the best performance by a European rookie in tournament history. Not only that, he announced himself as a serious big-time player, the usually unassuming 24 year old carrying the air of a battle-hardened veteran. Visibly invested in the contest, Pieters had announced himself to a wider audience, as well.
“It was pretty crazy how I was recognised a bit more after the Ryder Cup and that certainly took some adjustment,” he says. “But the main takeaway for me was that I felt comfortable out there. I didn’t feel out of place playing against some of the best players in the world and I took a lot of belief away from the week that will benefit me this coming season, hopefully.”
It clearly benefited to be paired with Rory McIlroy. During the first two days, Pieters formed an unbeaten partnership with the four-time major winner, as the pair took three points from a possible three. Working well in tandem, they saw off some heavy-hitting Americans, including Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and the in-form Brooks Koepka. But, then again, Pieters had a heavyweight for company himself.
“I really enjoyed playing with Rory,” he says. “Whenever I hit a loose shot or something, he had my back and kept giving me birdie chances. He was one of the easiest people to play with and winning three points with one of the best golfers in the world was awesome.
“I’m not surprised how much I enjoyed the event, but it is true that you can’t gauge exactly what it’s going to be like until you are there. Its bigger and louder than you can ever imagine and every shot counts.”
Sometimes at Hazeltine, the noise and the needle overstepped the mark. During the afternoon fourballs on Saturday, the partisan home crowd goaded McIlroy to such an extent that a spectator had to be ejected. Pieters, a former University of Illinois student who seemed to feed off the atmosphere all week, was not far from the incident.
“The crowd at the Ryder Cup was tough on the Europeans, but that’s just how intense the contest is,” he says. “The crowds were fine for me, though, partly because nobody knew me and partly because I had some Illinois support there from my college days.
“I don’t know how you go about fixing the problem to be honest, with the golf course being such a big place, it’s pretty difficult to police and I guess you hope that sometime in the future, the fans that did cause any issues come together and support the event and players how they have done in the past.”
At least dealing with the unique stresses of the Ryder Cup should help Pieters going into this year’s majors. Last season, he tasted the game’s most coveted individual events for the first time, finishing tied-30th at the British Open and 86th at the PGA Championship.
Yet with Ryder Cup experience banked, Pieters has something now to team with the talent: belief.
“There was obviously a lot of pressure and every shot was so important, but once you’re out there you kind of forget about that and just concentrate on beating the guys you’re playing,” he says. “The same goes for this year in the majors: you can put too much pressure on yourself and you end up not performing because you’re thinking of the stage.
“Playing the Ryder Cup was great experience for me to know I felt comfortable on the big stage. But I still need to concentrate on my game.”
The next focus comes this week in the capital. Predictably, Pieters is looking forward to getting his season up and running, on a track he readily admits suits him well. That much is evident: in his past two appearances in Abu Dhabi, Pieters has finished fourth and second.
Last January, he shot an eight-under 64 on Saturday – joint-best round of the week – to challenge for the title, but eventually came up just short, losing by one stroke to American Rickie Fowler. Pieters emerged from the National Course with a solid platform for 2016, though, imbued with the confidence to transform it into a year to remember. This time around, he plans to go one better.
“I don’t have any regrets really. I had a really strong Saturday and Sunday and did everything I could to be in a position to win and it didn’t quite work out,” Pieters says. “Rickie played really well on the final day and deserved the win. He just beat me, but I’ll do everything I can to take that Falcon trophy from him this year.”
More from the Thomas Pieters exclusive:
■ On his three years at the University of Illinois
“Looking back on my time in Illinois, it was so important to my development not only as a player but as person. I went over there as an 18 year old, not speaking perfect English and with not too much idea about living on my own without my family and had to get used to it. I nearly didn’t go back for my second semester, but my parents convinced me to and I’m glad they did.”
■ On dual-tour membership tips from pal Nicolas Colsaerts
“I listen a lot to what Nicolas says and he has given me some good advice on trying to balance my schedule this coming year. He tried America and it didn’t quite work out, but he’s back playing good golf in Europe. At the moment the plan is to play the majors and WGC’s as well as a bit on both tours, so we’ll see how that goes and reassess later in the season. I don’t have any intention at this moment to be a full-time PGA Tour player as I enjoy European events too much.”
■ On the return of a childhood hero: Tiger Woods
“In the era that I was growing up as a golfer, if you didn’t like Tiger, something was wrong with you. He changed the game and seeing him come back at the Hero Challenge showed that he’s still so important to golf and it’d be so good to see him back contending at the top of the leaderboard.”
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