Amid all this brash talk, there is vulnerability about him, too. He's not a machine. He says he felt overwhelmed when he joined the travelling circus of the European Tour. "I missed nine cuts in a row. Yeah, I did panic," he admits. "There were a lot of pep talks with my family. It's not like I was giving up but it was 'Damn, what am I going to do now? Am I really good enough?' It's funny how in 18 months you go from just trying to make a cut to tournament winner. It's all in the head. I went back to see my old coach, Mike Small, in Illinois five times. He's not really a coach to me; he's just a positive guy. I still call him. He believes in me."
Pieters had a stellar amateur career in America. He beat Jordan Spieth and former World Amateur No. 1 Patrick Cantlay to win the NCAA Division I Golf Championship in his first year at the University of Illinois. "I know and believe I can do what Jordan has done," Pieters says. "I never looked at myself as one of the best players like Jordan or Patrick. They won way more times than me. But when I won tournaments, it was the big ones. In the back of my mind, I knew I could do it."
Buoyed by his amateur performances, and with the backing of his college coach, Pieters dropped out of college to pursue his dream of playing professional golf. "I skipped the Challenge Tour. That would have been a good learning school," he says. "I played about three events but I hated it because I felt I was too good to be out there. I know that's real cocky to say. I think in some ways that got me through Qualifying School because I just wanted to out on the main tour, not the Challenge Tour. I think it's all about mindset."
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