ORLANDO, Fla. — Even in Champaign, Ill., home of the perennial juggernaut Fighting Illini, Thomas Pieters made an impression right from the start.
"He had one the best swings I've ever seen show up on campus," Illinois head coach Mike Small said.
That beautiful arcing motion did wonders. The Belgian giant, Pieters stands at 6 feet 6 inches, put in three years with the Fighting Illini and earned two All-America distinctions and an individual NCAA Championship. Pieters, who left school a year early after the 2012-13 season, is the only Illinois golfer in Small's tenure (which stretches back to 2000) to not graduate from the University, not that it's held against the Belgian.