Late trouble costs Pieters in first Masters round

This is the first Masters Tournament for Thomas Pieters, but the 25-year-old Belgian wasn’t intimidated Thursday on golf’s grandest stage.

Pieters won the 2012 NCAA championship as a sophomore at the University of Illinois and has three wins since 2015 on the European Tour. He was 4-1 as a member of the European Ryder Cup team that lost to the U.S. in 2016.

On Thursday, Pieters shot to the top of the leaderboard early in the opening round at Augusta National, going 5-under-par on his first 10 holes. He came back to earth on the second nine, with double bogeys on No. 12 and No. 18 to shoot even par 72.

The swirling winds at Amen Corner were tough to handle, Pieters said.

“The last eight or nine holes … the wind’s picking up and it’s not real consistent,” Pieters said. “If you catch the wrong gust at the wrong time, then you look stupid like I did on 12. But that’s just Augusta I guess.”

Pieters birdied the par-5s No. 2 and No. 8 and also had birdies on No. 4 and No. 5. He drained a 13-footer on the par-3 fourth and hit his 183-yard approach on No. 5 to five feet to get to 3-under. At No. 10, he fired at the flag from 175 yards – leaving a four-footer for another birdie.

But his trouble started at No. 12, where he hit an 8-iron off the tee into Rae’s Creek en route to a double bogey. A three-putt from 10 feet on No. 18 led to another double bogey.

“I didn’t miss a shot on the first 10 holes, and I feel like I didn’t really miss any today. It might look like it on the back nine, but I feel like I really didn’t. I’m very happy with the way I’m striking the ball. I missed a couple putts, but everyone is going to miss a couple.”

Pieters said his Ryder Cup experience, where he set a European rookie record with his 4-1 record, helped him deal with the pressure of playing Augusta National — to an extent.

“It helped, but this is different,” Pieters said. “It’s a major. The Ryder Cup, if you lose it, you lose it, you move on. Everybody is happy on Sunday night, either if you lose or you win. This is different.”