Pieters has a new team and a clear head as he enters 2025 with 4Aces GC

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Until this week, Thomas Pieters had to keep news about his impending move to 4Aces GC a secret. But he couldn’t help but tell a few close friends back home in his native Belgium.

They reacted with amazement. So, you’re going to be on the same team with Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed?

Pieters just shrugged. “Yeah.” He was nearly as awestruck as they were.

“Coming from a country where golf is not very big, it’s a weird thing to get your head around,” he said Wednesday after shooting an opening 4-under 67 at the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. “But it’s cool. And I’ve worked for it.”

That work ethic didn’t go unnoticed by other teams, even as he struggled for results in his first two LIV Golf years with RangeGoats GC. While Johnson decides the team’s roster makeup, Reed was quickly onboard when he heard Pieters would be his new teammate for 2025.

“He’s a fighter. That’s the big thing,” Reed said. “He works hard. He fights and grinds. Hopefully that wears off on the whole team and we fight and grind and play the way the Aces are supposed to play because last year was unacceptable.”

The move allows the 4Aces to hit the reset button after a season in which they failed to win a tournament while producing just one podium result, a second-place in Las Vegas fueled by Johnson’s individual win. The previous two years, the Aces were the best team in the regular season and won the Team Championship in the inaugural 2022 season.

The move also allows the 32-year-old Pieters to continue hitting his own reset button, both on and off the course. 

While juggling a global schedule in a new golf environment, he also became a single dad to two girls – Florence (4 years old) and June (who just celebrated her second birthday) – after ending his long-time relationship. That led to a lot of stress and being pulled in various directions. That’s not conducive to successful results, especially against LIV Golf’s elite field.

In his first year in 2023, he had just one top 10 while finishing outside the points (top 24) in half of his 12 regular-season starts. This year, he improved with two top 10s, including his LIV-best tie for 5th in Singapore. Still, he’s yet to conclude the individual season-long race inside the Lock Zone for final points.

But now he has a new team and a chance to learn from two major winners. Meanwhile, his home life is finally settled. On Wednesday, sitting on a couch inside the Riyadh Golf Club, he seemed happy. Relaxed.

So, is it clear sailing going into 2025?

“Well, it’s never clear sailing,” he chuckled. “But I’m 90% there, which is amazing when you come from 5%. 

“Weeks like this, there’s no noise around my head, which is amazing. I haven’t had that for I don’t know how long. That, to me, is the biggest thing. I’m such a family guy. If everything is good at home, my kids are healthy, my family’s healthy, then I can go out and perform. That hasn’t been the case for a long time.

“It was always difficult for me, and I couldn’t really pinpoint why. Is it my putting? Is it my game? But if my mind’s not really there, it’s hard to focus for five hours. I feel like I can properly do that now, which is great.”

In joining the Aces, Pieters also is reunited (presumably, since the Aces currently have five players under contract through the end of the year) with close friend Harold Varner III. Those two were RangeGoats teammates in 2022 and have known each other for more than a decade, since their amateur days.

Varner is well aware of what Pieters has been going through.

“Obviously, life has calmed down for him,” Varner said. “That’s the only thing that matters. Then he can do the other things that he needs to do. I’m super-excited.”

So is Pieters. But he also knows there will be pressure to perform. The Aces don’t take losing well. And of course, he doesn’t want to disappoint his new captain.

Pieters still recalls the time Johnson reached No. 1 in the world for the first time. It came on Feb. 19, 2017, after he won the PGA Tour event at Riviera by five strokes. Tied for second that week? Pieters. It’s his best finish on that tour. 

“I thought that was such a cool thing,” Pieters said. “I don’t know why, but that moment always sticks with me."

A few months earlier, Johnson had seen first-hand what Pieters is capable of achieving on the golf course, having lost two matches to Pieters and his partner Rory McIlroy at the 2016 Ryder Cup.

“DJ’s always been a fan of my game,” Pieters said. “I know that. He’s said that a couple of times. Of course, he’s very mellow about it; he’s obviously not in-your-face about it. So, you’ve got to read between the lines sometimes there.

“I think he rates me, and he knows I haven’t reached my full potential. I’ve had two rough years on LIV, but I feel like everything’s settled. I feel good. I can’t wait for next year.”