PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 18, 2022

Thomas Pieters

Southern Hills Country Club

Flash Quotes

JOHN DEVER: Thomas, this is your sixth career PGA Championship. Welcome. It's great to have you here. You're coming off a really strong week last week over in your home country of Belgium. Did that give you a little boost in your step as you jumped on the plane and came over here?

THOMAS PIETERS: Definitely. I had a month off, which was needed, and it's always a bit anxious when you get back how your game is going to be, and it was pretty good last week. Always nice to just get a top 10 and move on.

JOHN DEVER: What about your game last weekend or this past weekend was spot on, that allowed you to post a top 10?

THOMAS PIETERS: Off the tee it was really good. My wedges weren't that good, but all the rest was pretty solid. It's nice to see -- like I was working on some stuff in my swing, to eliminate a left miss. I didn't really miss it left last week, so that's always nice to see.

And yeah, overall it was just a really solid week.

JOHN DEVER: What do you see in this golf course? I imagine you probably haven't been here before this week.

THOMAS PIETERS: I haven't, no.

JOHN DEVER: What do you say in your first one or two trips around?

THOMAS PIETERS: I think, again, it's a typical PGA course. It's fair. It's hard. Yeah, it's playable. I feel like U.S. Opens are always on the edge, whereas this week there's opportunities. Greens are really tricky. But I think you can kind of manage your way around very well if you're on point and if you keep your head in the game.

Q. No secret here, but three of the four majors are played in America. How hard is it for a player from Europe to jump on a plane, arrive here, whether it's the Sunday before or the Monday before, whenever it is, to jump on a plane, cross the Atlantic and play golf at supposedly a high level? How much of a challenge physically and mentally is that?

THOMAS PIETERS: Yeah, physically probably, but mentally it's just golf. That's the reason why I took a month off. I went back and forth like three, four, five times, I can't remember. I was just tired.

Again, I'm really happy I got an early tee time tomorrow because I've been waking up at 3:00, 4:00 a.m. anyway. It's definitely a challenge, yeah.

I'll be fine by tomorrow, so definitely afternoon, like 3:00, 4:00 hits like yesterday, and I was dead.

Q. First off, there have been several guys when we've asked them about this course that maybe haven't seen it before that they could name one or two holes that they're like, man, I really like that hole. Has any one jumped out to you like that?

THOMAS PIETERS: I like the whole front nine. It's just very in front of you. It's hard, but I think the back nine is a bit more tricky, the lines off the tees, a couple blind shots off the tee. Greens are a bit more severe I'd say on the back nine.

Yeah, I think 1 is a great hole -- like I said, it's just in front of you. You see where you're going.

My favorite hole, I like 17. Hopefully they move the tee up and make it pretty exciting.

Q. When you talk about taking a month off, obviously you work on some things, but what did that look like for you?

THOMAS PIETERS: You mean like day-to-day?

Q. Yeah, did you put in work? Obviously you put in some work, but did you totally get away from it for a while?

THOMAS PIETERS: Yeah, a couple days. After Augusta I got back with my family, and yeah, you just spend a couple days with the family, and then I was back to work. My coaches flew over. It's nice to do some work away from tournaments so you can kind of let all of it sink in and just do your thing at tournaments.

Did a bunch of that, and like I said, swinging it nicely, so I'm looking forward to it.

Q. You say the front nine; the proximity of some of the greens to the tees and what you've got going on 1 and 10, too, have you seen anything like that before?

THOMAS PIETERS: Yeah, I probably have, but I think it's going to be long rounds. I just played 3 hours 30 or 40 or something for nine holes. Not enjoyable.

Q. You were saying it's just golf; is that something that you remind yourself, especially at the majors, or something that helps you take this lightly or even a better way?

THOMAS PIETERS: Yeah, lately you can say that. I finished almost dead last at the Masters. You go home, you reset; stuff like that happens. I'll probably forget about that in a couple months.

Yeah, I don't know. It's just golf. You try to shoot a lower score tomorrow and same for Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's that easy, I think.

Q. I think you are one of these persons that has his own way of doing things that works or doesn't work sometimes like anybody else, and also you recognize your own mistakes. I don't know if you want to talk about those mistakes but at least about the lessons, what you have learned in the last few years and now coming back and playing again better.

THOMAS PIETERS: What kind of mistakes are you talking about?

Q. It's on you, not me.

THOMAS PIETERS: I just think I haven't performed in America as well the last couple of years just because the travel for me, it gets me. When you have to do it on your own it gets lonely. Like I said, when you go back and forth like six, seven, eight times, it takes a toll on your body.

Yeah, it's always been last minute for me, like getting invites and playing my way into stuff. I haven't really been able to plan my schedule very well. Hopefully I can change that for the next couple of years.

Q. You are not the first one in history to have gone through this --

THOMAS PIETERS: Yeah, of course.

Q. Will you think about moving to the States at some point?

THOMAS PIETERS: No.

Q. Why not?

THOMAS PIETERS: I'll invite you to Belgium. It's a lovely country.

Q. I'm from Europe, so...

THOMAS PIETERS: So you know. I don't know, my family is over there, my girlfriend, my kid, my daughter. So no, I'm not moving over here anytime soon. My life is over there. I enjoy playing golf in Europe, as well.

I'd just love to pick the best ones here and play the summer in Europe.

Q. So we're back to it's just golf and those other things are more important?

THOMAS PIETERS: Yeah, yeah.

Q. If you could talk about your college golf experience in the States, why you chose that path, where it led you, and how that impacted the beginning stages of what is probably going to be a long career?

THOMAS PIETERS: Yeah, I was really happy that I chose Illinois under Mike Small. I wanted to turn pro when I was 18 but I wasn't quite ready, and I'm happy some of my people in my circle convinced me.

It was probably one of the best choices I've made going to Illinois, just getting a bit more -- like you grow up really quick, I think, when you have to do everything on your own, when you travel in America.

Yeah, I don't know, you just become such a better golfer. I was really good at swinging the golf club at a young age but I couldn't score, and I think that's the main thing I learned in college.

Q. What kind of coach is Mike Small? We've asked you a little bit about your experience through the years, but when it's Tuesday and you've got practice and whatnot, what did you take away from him? Do you guys stay in touch? What are the lasting lessons you might have taken from him, maybe not literally but that you take from Mike who's a very prominent PGA professional?

THOMAS PIETERS: Yeah, I mean, while I was at college, he was playing in these things. It's so easy to buy into what somebody is saying to you when he's actually performing at the highest level.

I was just talking to somebody the other day, he never touched my golf swing or anything like that. He just wanted us to shoot 66 or 64, be able to make a lot of birdies and go on runs and that kind of stuff.

It was a lot of mental stuff. I think he was implementing stuff in our practice indirectly that we didn't know sometimes. Sometimes we had to finish a drill in the evening. If you didn't finish it you had to come back in the morning, that kind of stuff. He said, if you can sleep tonight knowing you're not coming back in the morning, like that's fine. He just kind of left it to us.

Just small life lessons, I think.