Fmr. Illini All-American Thomas Pieters Finishes U.S. Open In T-23rd Place

Former Illinois All-American Thomas Pieters finishes the 2020 United States Open in tied for 23rd place after a final round 77.

Former Illinois All-American Thomas Pieters finished the 2020 United States Open Championship in a tie for 23rd place.

Pieters, who came into Winged Foot Golf Club this week ranked No. 77 in the world rankings, finished the tournament at 10-over-par after a final round 77.

Bryson DeChambeau carded a 67 to finish 6-under-par for a six-shot win in what was a record winning score by two shots at a venue where only two players had finished in red figures in five previous U.S. Opens. The win marks the first major victory for DeChambeau as he becomes just the third player in golf history (along with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods) to win both the NCAA Division I Championship, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open in the same year.

A truly dominant Sunday at Winged Foot.

Congratulations to our 2020 #USOpen champion, @b_dechambeau! pic.twitter.com/4VAFJmseST

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) September 20, 2020

Pieters, 28, played the treacherous first five holes Sunday at just 3-over-par but failed to make a birdie in his final 27 holes without a birdie. Sunday represented the sixth time in his professional career Pieters posted a finish of 30th or better in a major championship.

Before this week, Pieters had never made the 36-hole cut in the U.S. Open and this tournament was the first major of the 2020 season for Pieters that has featured two top 10 finishes on the European Tour.

Pieters, who represented Belgium in the 2016 Summer Olympics and is likely to do so again in 2021, finished just four strokes off a Top 10 finish that would’ve allowed for him to automatically qualify for next year's U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif.

Thomas Detry, a fellow Belgium native and Pieters’ former Illinois teammate, posted a 81 Sunday to finish the tournament with a tie for 49th place and a four-day total of 17-over-par. Pieters and Detry are expected to represent their home country and the Illini in the rescheduled Summer Olympics, due to coronavirus concerns, in Tokyo in 2021.

Thomas Detry plays his shot from the third tee during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Winged Foot Golf Club - West :: Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

Pieters’ career at Illinois is highlighted by his 2012 NCAA individual national championship in junior season as he became the second Illini player to win a national title in school history and joined Scott Langley (2010) as the second national champion from Illinois in a three-year period.

In his senior year, Pieters was named an honorable mention All-America selection by PING and Golfweek after he led the Illinois in stroke average at 71.38 and rounds under par with 16. His 71.38 stroke average is fourth in the school’s single-season record book and his career stroke average of 72.35 ranks second all-time at Illinois.