Former Illini Thomas Pieters starts strong at the 2020 Olympic Games

The 2020 Olympic Games is happening in 2021, and Illinois has a few golfers competing in the men’s golf competition.

Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry, both of Belgium, are competing for their home country and are looking quite strong early on.

Out of the two, Detry is trailing with a first-round -1, which has him sitting in a tie for 31st place. All things considered, that isn’t a bad spot to be after day one. There are only 60 players competing, so Detry is smackdab in the middle of the pack.

The same cannot be said for Pieters. A solid golfer on the regular tour, Pieters seems to show up big for the Olympics. He had a first-round -6, 65, to sit in a tie for 3rd place. He only trails Sepp Straka of Austria, who is in first at -8, and Jazz Janewattananond of Thailand, who is at -7 after day one.

The 2020 Olympic Games isn’t the first time former Illini golfers played well on the big stage.

Golf came back into the Olympic fold back in 2016. This was the first year there was golf in the prestigious games since 1904. In the triumphant return, Justin Rose took home the gold medal. Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar won the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

But lurking not too far behind was Peters. After a rough day three which saw the former Illinois great shoot a +6, 77, he rebounded nicely with a final round -6, 65, to finish a strong fourth place at the 2016 Olympic Games. This was a strong showing from someone who wasn’t supposed to be up there on the leaderboard.

It now looks like Pieters is going to be a handful once again, as the Belgium sensation is sitting in 4th place after day one. While there is a lot of talent close behind, it wouldn’t shock me to the Pieters come away with a medal in the 2020 Olympics. Look for him to finish strong in the final three days of competition.