Fmr. Illini All-American Thomas Pieters Near Top 10 in U.S. Open

Former Illinois All-American Thomas Pieters sits near the Top 10 going into the final round of the 2020 United States Open.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Former Illinois All-American Thomas Pieters sits near the Top 10 going into the final round of the 2020 United States Open Championship.

Pieters, who came into Winged Foot Golf Club this week ranked No. 77 in the world rankings, was 6-under-par through his first 23 holes and had a one-stroke lead as he made the turn for his second nine Friday.

Pieters played the treacherous first five holes of his third round Saturday at just 2-over-par but failed to make a birdie on the back nine while he watched his playing partner Xander Schauffele battle to an even-par 70 to leave him at even-par for the championship and in one of the final pairings Sunday.

Pieters, who represented Belgium in the 2016 Summer Olympics and is likely to do so again in 2021, finally found the incredibly difficult version of Winged Foot as he finished his final nine holes with a 6-over-par 41 but the USGA course setup took its toll on the remaining members of the field with only three players finishing with an under-par round on Friday. On Saturday, the course played just slightly less daunting as eight players finished in red figures with an under-par round. 

Pieters’ 54-hole total of 3-over-par 213 (66-74-73) places him tied for 11th place and eight strokes behind leader Matthew Wolff, who posted a third-round 65 despite only hitting 2 of 14 fairways on the day. 

United State Golf Association regulations allow for the top 10 finishers and ties at the 2020 U.S. Open to automatically qualify for next year's event at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif. 

Pieters will tee off Sunday at 12:13 p.m. EST with third-round leader Patrick Reed in the eighth-to-last group off. 

3⃣0⃣ on the front.@matthew_wolff5 leads the 120th #USOpen by 2 heading into Sunday. pic.twitter.com/fLrqNVdodc

— U.S. Open (@usopengolf) September 19, 2020

Wolff, 21, holds a one-stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round and would be the seventh-youngest winner of the U.S. Open and the youngest since Bobby Jones won the 1923 event as an amateur. Wolff is the reigning NCAA individual championship winner as he won that title in 2019 while a sophomore at Oklahoma State and the 2020 event was cancelled due to COVID-19. The last reigning NCAA champion to win the U.S. Open the following year was 20-year-old Francis Ouimet on Sept. 20, 1913 - the same day that tomorrow's final round will fall on the 2020 calendar. 

Bryson DeChambeau will be in the final pairing for the second straight day as he sits just two shots behind Wolff (69-68-70-207) going into Sunday after finishing his third round with an even-par 70. DeChambeau, 27, is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour but before this season his best finish in a major was tied for 15th in the 2016 U.S. Open shortly after he turned professional. In 2015, he became the fifth player in history to win both the NCAA Division I Championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year.

Pieters, 28, is tied for second in this U.S. Open field in greens in regulation (37 of 54) but has played the back nine of this championship at 8-over-par.

Thomas Pieters plays his shot from the second tee during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Winged Foot Golf Club - West :: Danielle Parhizkaran/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 second all-time at Illinois.

Fellow Belgium native and former Illinois teammate Thomas Detry as the 27-year-old posted a 73 on Saturday to follow up his 71 and 72 in the first two rounds that allowed him to make the 36-hole cut by three shots. 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.