It has been a quiet two-and-a-half months since the LIV Golf season came to an end at the Team Championship in Dallas.
However, the first domino has fallen in what could be a busy couple of weeks heading into the fourth season of LIV Golf.
Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces announced Monday it had acquired Thomas Pieters via trade from Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC, the first trade of the offseason. The 4Aces didn’t send a player back in return, as Sports Illustrated’s Matt Vincenzi reported, and the expectation is the 4Aces will not re-sign Pat Perez, whose contract expires Jan. 1, 2025.
Pieters, whose LIV Golf contract runs through 2025, finished 30th in the individual season standings in 2024. He scored four points for Europe in the 2016 Ryder Cup. Players who finished Nos. 25-48 were subject to being traded or dropped from their current teams to become free agents.
He joins a 4Aces team that won the inaugural LIV Golf Team Championship in 2022 but finished 10th in the regular season in 2024. The 4Aces did finish tied for second at the Team Championship.
Last year, the 4Aces and RangeGoats GC also traded players in the offseason, with Harold Varner III joining Johnson’s team in exchange for Peter Uihlein.
What’s next?
RangeGoats GC could go numerous ways in filling its roster spot. Watson could sign a player in the Open Zone who isn’t returning to their former team. The team could also sign someone from outside the league. Watson himself was also relegated from the league after the season, so the RanegGoats could have two new players come 2025.
Rumors have swirled in recent weeks about possibly LIV Golf signings this offseason. The Pieters’ trade could be the first in a chain reaction of offseason movement for the league, but only time will tell.
Matt Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pieters and Hovland all rely on data analytics from Edoardo Molinari.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Whether Viktor Hovland, who enters the final round trailing by one stroke, wins the Wanamaker Trophy or not this week at the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill is still to be determined, but if he does so it may be due to his secret weapon: Edoardo Molinari.
That would be the older brother of British Open champion Francesco Molinari, a former U.S. Amateur champion, three-time DP World Tour champion and European Ryder Cupper, who is serving as an assistant captain later this year in his native Italy.
Molinari also is an engineer by trade and his keen use of stats made him a trailblazer in the use of data analytics in golf. It also has led to the creation of a business that is helping some of the game’s top players learn their strengths and weaknesses, strategy and course management and how to practice more effectively. Among his students who rely on his advanced data analytics are reigning U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pieters and Hovland.
“Viktor’s potential is limitless,” Molinari said. “He’s very keen on the course management. I have regular conversations with Shay (Knight), his caddie, even on the day of the round. Viktor is a super-smart kid and he understands what he wants. Sometimes he’ll ask you a very specific question and then go away and work for a month and then can see the data changing and getting better.”
Edoardo Molinari of Italy celebrates following his win at the 2019 Trophee Hassan II at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
“I think Viktor realized that his course management was a weakness,” Molinari said. “His ballstriking is probably top 3 on Tour, especially when he’s playing well. He doesn’t miss a shot. It’s more like managing his few misses a little better sometimes playing a bit more aggressive off the tee because when he’s on he doesn’t really miss a fairway.”
Hovland, 25, won the 2018 U.S. Amateur, three times on the PGA Tour, played on Europe’s Ryder Cup team in 2021 and entered the week ranked 11th in the world. At the last two majors, the Norewegian held the 54-hole lead at the British Open and played in the second-to-last group at the Masters in April, but faded from the picture.
When asked to explain why he hadn’t had more success at the majors yet, Hovland explained, “I think that’s been because I’ve just been a little bit young and stupid, just going after some pins that I’m not supposed to go for even though I’m feeling good about my ball-striking and it’s easy to just feel like, yeah, I’m going to take it right at it and make a birdie here. Then you hit a decent shot, and then you’re short-sided and make bogey or double, and you just can’t do that in major championship golf. You just have to wear out center of the green.”
Hovland, who also began working with swing instructor Joe Mayo this year, compared his new-found focus on course management to the game of poker and placing smart bets depending on the hand he’s dealt.
“Within strategy in poker, there’s certain frequencies, certain things should happen, so you bet at certain frequencies. Basically I was ending up plugged in the bunker short-sided a few more times than you would think,” he explained. “It seemed like it would happen once or twice a round or something like that where I would just be in a terrible spot and cannot make a par. So (Mayo) reached out to Edoardo, and we crunched some numbers and saw that I was just a little too aggressive with my shorter irons.”
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Fitzpatrick was the first player to seek assistance from Molinari and still remains the player who is most devoted to Molinari’s data analytics approach. But his number of disciples is growing by leaps and bounds through word of mouth.
“I thought some players might come to ask for it. I thought the maximum number of players I could manage was 10 players. I thought in 3-4 years if I had 10 players, I’d be happy. Within 3 months, we had 10 players signed up. I had to hire a guy part-time, hired another guy. Both are full-time now,” Molinari said. “We have 10 (clients) on the PGA Tour and another 20 on the DP World Tour, a couple of Champions tour and LPGA.”
South African pro Brandon Stone isn’t currently working with Molinari but he may have summed up best why so many players are knocking on the door of ‘The Stat Man’ and asking for help.
“You’re always looking for that 1 percent you can gain on everyone else,” Stone said. “(When I worked) with Eddie, I gained closer to 5 percent.”
Initially, Molinari’s company, Statistic Golf, provided only stats but he has since added course management and how to practice more effectively (Molinari isn’t the only skilled player to enter this burgeoning cottage industry; Golfweek chronicled the story of Hunter Stewart last year).
Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Open in June; one can only imagine what a second major in less than a year for one of Molinari’s clients would do for his business. Asked last month if Hovland’s game suited a particular major, Molinari said the U.S. Open or PGA Championship.
“It needs to be very difficult off the tee to serve him best. He’s one of the best drivers of the ball. If there is a weakness in his game, it is chipping from tight lies. But there’s a lot of grass around the green at those majors so it’s less of an issue,” he explained.
Hovland, who shot even-par 70 at Oak Hill on Saturday, will play in the final group on Sunday alongside leader Brooks Koepka. Hovland’s best result this season is a T-3 at the Players Championship in March and his last win was at the Hero World Challenge for the second straight year in the Bahamas in December. In fact, all of his Tour wins have been on tropical islands: in Puerto Rico and twice in Mexico near the resort town of Cancun. It’s ironic given he grew up in the cold of Norway.
“Sometimes I tease him that it’s about time he wins on a serious golf course, not at a tourist place,” Molinari said.
This slice of Western New York, where there was a frost delay on Thursday, has never been confused for a tropical locale and Oak Hill would most certainly qualify as “a serious golf course.”
Pieters joined Barstool Sports’ golf podcast to discuss LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and much more.
Thomas Pieters still can’t help but laugh when he mentions his new team, RangeGoats GC.
The No. 34 player in the world was the best signing for the re-vamped LIV Golf League ahead of its second season, which began last month in Mexico, and joined Barstool Sports’ Fore Play podcast to discuss his reasons for joining LIV and his feelings about the PGA Tour.
The Belgian said life hasn’t changed too much since he made the jump to the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-backed circuit, he still gets on a plane, travels to a golf tournament and tries to win.
“Obviously there’s a lot of talk, but at the end of the day, it’s a personal opinion, and it’s just golf, it’s not life and death,” said Pieters, who noted he called DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley to inform him of his choice. “I made the decision, and I move on.”
LIV Golf has long been criticized as another avenue for Saudi Arabia to sportswash its controversial human rights record, and when asked if he had any issues with the Public Investment Fund backing LIV, Pieters clapped back at those who are critical of the upstart circuit.
“I know my money comes from an American-based company,” said Pieters, referencing LIV Golf Investments, where PIF is the majority shareholder. Yasir Al-Rumayyan is the current governor of the PIF, and serves directly under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has controlled the fund since 2015.
“I think the PIF is in about 150 boards if I’m not wrong, so anything you touch on a daily basis is funded by Saudi money, so I think it’s a bit hypocritical, some of the things that are being said,” Pieters continued. “Obviously the things that have happened, they’re horrible. I’m here to play golf. It’s not really something I want to go into. I knew that question was going to be asked, but I don’t really have an answer for that.”
A year later, and the players still can’t answer the single biggest question about their new employer.
“I feel like golfers have gotten too opinionated about everything, and I’m just here to play golf,” he later added. “I’m not dumb, maybe I’ll come across as dumb, but I just want to be happy, that’s all.”
For Pieters, that wasn’t life on the PGA Tour. He loved his time in college at Illinois, where he won the individual national title in 2012, but he got lonely on the Tour.
“As a kid you obviously dream about playing on the PGA Tour, winning golf tournaments. I played a year on the PGA Tour. I did not like it,” he said. “I got very homesick, very lonely, so for me that was kind of like tick the box, I tried it over there, wasn’t my thing and then LIV came around right at the right time.
“Everybody who was playing on it last year that I talked to said it was very exciting, new and that was something that really spoke to me. You can’t lie about it financially, it’s amazing, and it was something as a family, father of two daughters, as well with my girlfriend, it’s awesome to have such good schedule, as well.”
Pieters made it clear he didn’t hate the PGA Tour and loved playing in events like the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, but when the round was finished, he was lonely, and never experienced that in Europe on the DP World Tour.
“Last week (RangeGoat teammates Harold Varner III and Talor Gooch), we went out to dinner a couple nights, for me that’s normal,” he said. “It’s funny because Harold said, ‘man we never did this on the PGA Tour,’ and I find that a little bit sad.”
Pieters opened up while talking about his journey through professional golf and what his future may or may not look like, providing a unique perspective compared to those of his professional golf colleagues.
“I’ve done 10 years of being on the road and trying to achieve my dreams. I’m not Rory McIlroy, I’m not Tiger Woods, I’m not going to be in the history books or have a massive legacy, and that’s OK,” said Pieters. “I’ve made an unbelievable living out of golf, which is amazing for me and my mrs. and my kids. I don’t worry about that at all, actually. It’s just sport. It’s just golf. Happiness is so much more than just playing golf.”
You can disagree with his thoughts on the PIF and Saudi Arabia’s involvement in pro golf, but you certainly can’t argue that.
Thorbjornsen, a junior at Stanford and Massachusetts native, was a Golfweek 2022 All-American honorable mention. At the ’22 Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour, an event played down the road from where he grew up, Thorbjornsen finished solo fourth.
Rory McIlroy didn’t have his best stuff Saturday, making 15 pars, one birdie, one bogey and an eagle to post a day two 2-under 70. He’s tied for seventh, two back of the lead.
Patrick Reed, who’s been in headlines all week thanks to a viral moment with McIlroy, is also at 8 under. The old Ryder Cup rivals aren’t paired together for the third round.
A disappointment for most of the golf community.
Due to weather delays earlier in the week, play will conclude Monday in Dubai.
This is a candidate for best golf content of 2023.
This is as good as it gets.
Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and several other DP World Tour stars recreated the famous business card scene from American Psycho with a golf twist.
And it only made sense to make hot-tempered Hatton Patrick Bateman.
The best part? Hatton’s nickname for Fleetwood is “Golfing Jesus.” To be honest, his hair alone is well deserving of that moniker.
To no surprise, Lowry’s ball mark is a shamrock clover, while Thomas Pieters’ is a smiley face with his initials, “TP.”
And the acting? Hollywood should give these boys a call.
Currently ranked No. 35 in the world, Pieters has two top-10 finishes in his last four starts.
When the DP World Tour heads to Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course this week for the 2022 Portugal Masters, it’ll do so without defending champion Thomas Pieters.
The 30-year-old Belgian earned his sixth DP World Tour victory at last year’s event but will not defend his title this week as he and his significant other Stefanie van Steen are expecting their second child.
“Due to the imminent arrival of Baby Pieters I won’t be able to defend my Portugal Masters title this week,” Pieters wrote in a Twitter post. “Time for some more doo-doo in my life … ”
Currently ranked No. 35 in the world, Pieters has been on a good run of form the last two months, finishing T-8 at the Czech Masters and T-3 at the Cazoo Open de France.
Due to the imminent arrival of Baby Pieters I won’t be able to defend my Portugal Masters title this week. Time for some more doo-doo in my life… pic.twitter.com/4GwKXsBCmf
Li drained a 40-foot putt to snap a four-year winless streak. An emotional outburst soon followed.
It took four and a half years, but Haotong Li has finally won again following a week of wild emotional swings.
Li, who had a stretch of 13 missed cuts in 16 outings, admitted after the tournament that 10 months ago he considered quitting the game.
He started the final round Sunday with a five-shot lead at the 2022 BMW International Open in Munich, Germany, but it slowly dwindled away over the final 18 holes. Nonetheless, he had a chance to win the tournament but he lipped out a birdie putt on the 18th hole so he went to a playoff with Thomas Pieters tied at 22 under.
On the first playoff hole, Li blasted his third shot 40 feet past the hole. He later said he thought he gave away the tournament with that blunder.
But Li kept his head and went on to drain a 40-foot bomb, setting off a wild celebration.
In the aftermath, Li was criticized by some for making little to no effort to congratulate Pieters.
Li also dropped a pair of F-bombs during his post-round interview. (Warning: explicit language)
The fruity language doesn’t offend me but Li didn’t make any effort to shake hands with Pieters after winning which is a bit rum. pic.twitter.com/9iywBES3Bx
“I don’t have the words to describe right now,” he said. “Ten months ago I just literally decided to quit golf, and somehow where I am now, it’s just hard to describe. I had no idea I could win this play-off. Luckily things happened for me again.”
There’s still one more automatic invite to the Masters on the line this week at the Valero Texas Open.
The field for the Masters has swelled by five.
Thomas Pieters (No. 34), Harold Varner III (40), Seamus Power (41), Russell Henley (42) and Cameron Young (47) are the latest to punch their ticket down Magnolia Lane to play in the first men’s major next week. That stretches the smallest field of the four majors to 91 players, and still includes Tiger Woods on the list of past champions planning to play.
Pieters and Varner didn’t have to sweat it out last week at the Dell Technologies Match Play as they had become virtual locks thanks in part to their respective victories in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia earlier this year. For Varner, 31, it will be his first appearance in the Masters.
The same can be said for Power, who won last summer and has continued a meteoric rise this season that included making the quarterfinals in Austin. Young, 24, is a graduate of the Korn Ferry Tour and used strong performances at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October and a runner-up finish at the Genesis Invitational to surge into the top 50.
Henley, who last won on Tour in 2017, is making his fifth Masters start after climbing inside the top 50 on the back of losing a sudden-death playoff to Hideki Matsuyama at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
The hard-luck losers are Cameron Tringale (No. 52), Richard Bland (53) and Alex Noren (57), who were left on the outside looking in. Bland, who lost to Dustin Johnson in the Round of 16 at the Match Play, tweeted his disappointment.
Unfortunately 3 places short 😏 #53. Need a win this week at The Texas Valero or Augusta to look on me kindly 🙏🏻 #masters
There’s still one more automatic invite to the Masters on the line this week. The winner of the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, if not already qualified, will be the last man in the field. The Masters begins April 7.
During pool play, Thomas Pieters hit a ball that landed against a sprinkler on the 13th hole at Austin Country Club.
Pieters, who was battling Tom Hoge, was not extended relief because a marked penalty line touched the sprinkler head region. He lost the hole but went on to win the match, 2 and 1.
But Young said the line should have been painted around the area, a mistake he said might have been the result of painting the line during windy conditions.
When Bryson DeChambeau hit a ball into the same area later in the day, rules officials had already decided the intention of the line was to allow for a drop from the sprinkler. DeChambeau was given a drop, salvaged a par on the hole, and went on to tie Richard Bland in his opening-round match.
“Obviously, in match play, each match is its own individual story … To me, two wrongs don’t make a right. So to make the correction before Bryson’s match got there was important when we heard about the original ruling. The way the penalty area is marked, the line — and as you look at them out on the golf course — the line kind of goes around each sprinkler head, keeping it in the general area of the golf course, not in the penalty area, that way players always going to get relief.
“When the golf course was marked the line got a little bit closer. Obviously, there’s a lot of wind when you’re marking these golf courses. The line got a little too close to it. The official who ruled on it was going based on what he was looking at, okay?
“Obviously, the intention was to keep them all out outside, but when he was looking at it, he ruled on it based on the fact that that red line was technically touching both the ball and the sprinkler head. So at that time, I don’t want to say he ruled incorrectly because I think he ruled based on what he’s looking at it. It then got brought to our attention, we talked about it as a committee and said, and felt very firmly two wrongs don’t make a right. We’ve got to correct this because clearly, it should be outside.
“As they were down on their way down there with some paint to correct the line, the Bryson situation came up. He called me on the phone and asked, he said, ‘I’ve got the same situation. Now that I know the intention was to have it outside the penalty area, are you comfortable with me ruling on it that way?’ And I said, ‘yes, I want you to rule on that way because we’re about to change the marking on it.’ There was nothing we could do to fix the Thomas Pieters situation, it was over with, but just to get it right, was important.
“It’s the great part of the fact that this is match play and we can make those changes because each individual match, you know, you could change something like that. If it was a stroke-play event, we would had to keep it that way through the entire day until all competitors finish their round and then make the change. But because of match play, we did it in between.”
“I just hope all the juniors back at home are watching this,” said Pieters.
Despite holding a three-shot lead near the turn of his final round, Thomas Pieters had to grind out a win down the stretch at the DP World Tour’s 2022 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
“I just hope all the juniors back at home are watching this,” said the Belgian. “I used to watch as a kid and think it was impossible for me but then Nico (Colsaerts) came on the scene and started winning. It’s stuff like that that inspires kids and hopefully I can do that back home.”
Pieters was briefly tied by Rafa Cabrera Bello but held on for his sixth win on the circuit thanks to an even-par 72 Sunday at Yas Links in Abu Dhabi to finish at 10 under. Cabrera Bello was joined by Shubhankar Sharma in second at 9 under, with Viktor Hovland and Victor Dubuisson T-4 at 8 under.
“Winning a Rolex Series, it’s as good as it gets in Europe,” he said. “Hopefully this lists me, I’m not sure where, but I want to play all of the big tournaments and hopefully this gets me close.
“Top 50 is your strive point and when I jumped out maybe three years ago, I took it badly, but I’m happy to be back again,” Pieters continued. “I feel like I’ve turned the corner and I’m playing really good golf. I’m really in control of my ball flight and it’s nice to feel like that and making putts as well. My putting has improved massively and I felt like that’s the thing that really kept me going on the weekend.”
