Former Illini golfers Detry and Pieters are prepared for the Tokyo Games.
When Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters, two former Fighting Illini golfers, tee off later this month in the Tokyo Olympics, they will be doing it in the colours of their native Belgium.
T. Pieters Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Detry and Pieters, who qualified based on their Official World Golf Rankings, were among the final 60 men’s entrants announced by the International Golf Federation (IGF) on Tuesday (July 6).
Pieters will be competing in his second consecutive Olympics, while Detry will be doing so for the first time. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Pieters finished in a respectable fourth position, just outside of medal contention. In 2018, Detry and Pieters won the World Cup of Golf for Belgium as a team.
They were two of the best golfers in Illinois history, and their contributions were crucial to the team’s runner-up result in the 2013 NCAA Championship, the only year both played for the Fighting Illini.
Nijlen, Belgium native Pieters won three different collegiate tournaments in 2012, including the NCAA Individual Championship.
His 2013 Big Ten Championship victory solidified his position as the league’s MVP that year. He concluded his college career having been named to the All-Big Ten first team twice, All-Midwest Region twice, and to the All-American first team in 2012 and to the honourable mention list in 2013. He also helped the Illini win three Big Ten crowns.
Detry, a native of Brussels, Belgium, has been voted Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2013) and Big Ten Player of the Year (2015). He has also helped Illinois win three Big Ten titles.
As a senior in 2016, he was named the Big Ten Medalist, one of his five collegiate titles. He was a four-time first-team All-Big Ten performer for the Illini, as well as an All-Midwest Region pick, and he was named to the All-American second team in 2015 and 2016, as well as receiving All-American honourable mention in 2014.
Conclusion
Taking place in a 72-hole individual stroke play style, the men’s golf tournament at the Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 29 and continue through August 1. Kasumigaseki Country Club, a private course in Saitama, Japan, some 40 miles from Tokyo, will host the event.
Several professional and amateur competitions, as well as the 1957 Golf World Cup, have been held at the Kasumigaseki Country Club since its inception in 1929. Thanks for read our Article T. Pieters Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
