LIV Golf's Thomas Pieters Pays Tribute To Home DP World Tour Event

While the Soudal Open takes place near Antwerp on the DP World Tour, Pieters will be playing in Oklahoma with LIV Golf

Thomas Pieters takes a shot in the pro-am before the 2023 LIV Golf Adelaide tournament
Thomas Pieters has paid tribute to the Soudal Open on the DP World Tour
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Mike Hall
By Mike Hall
published

The DP World Tour moves to Belgium this week for the Soudal Open, but local favourite Thomas Pieters will not be in attendance. 

Pieters made the move to LIV Golf before the opening event of the 14-tournament League season. That means that, while his home country will host the event, he will be in Oklahoma for the LIV Golf Tulsa tournament at Cedar Ridge Country Club.

Even though he's thousands of miles away, though, the tournament is still in the 31-year-old’s thoughts as he prepares for his latest outing as part of the Range Goats GC team. Pieters wrote on Twitter: "Good luck to everyone at the #SoudalOpen this week. I enjoyed playing the event previously & love the opportunities it gives to young Belgian golfers. Head to @SoudalOpen to follow the event throughout the week." 

Despite Pieters' absence, there is some local talent in the field, including World No.90 Thomas Detry, who is the second-highest-ranked player in attendance behind World No.88 Callum Shinkwin. 

Beyond him, the likes of World No.590 Christopher Mivis and World No.1006 Alan De Bondt are other Belgians in the line-up. Still, the six-time DP World Tour player, who finished tied for ninth in 2022, would surely have been the greatest hope for a local winner this year. 

However, it seems highly unlikely he will compete in it again, at least for the foreseeable future. The DP World Tour recently won its legal battle against some players on the circuit. That means there is likely no easy way back for Pieters should he wish to take part in future tournaments on the Tour.

It's not the first time this year that Pieters has aired his thoughts about a tournament he is not attending. In February, he took what appeared to be an indirect dig at the DP World Tour's strategic alliance with the PGA Tour after he failed to qualify for the Genesis invitational despite being World No.34 at the time. He wrote: "Sad to miss my favourite tournament of the year. Because well as #34 in the world, I just couldn't get in."

A matter of days later, Pieters became the highest-profile close-season LIV Golf signing.

Following this week's tournament on the circuit, where Pieters will hope to improve his position of 41st in the individual standings, he will play in the second Major of the year, the PGA Championship, as one of 18 LIV Golf players.

Mike Hall
Mike Hall
News Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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