CHASKA, Minn. — The Europeans unleash a rookie at every Ryder Cup and sic him on the Americans. This year’s fresh-faced foe is Thomas Pieters, a lanky, 24-year-old Belgian who made the team as a captain’s pick.
Pieters has a record of 3-1-0 heading into Sunday’s singles matches at Hazeltine National Golf Club. He is the latest in a long line of non-American rookies to perform in the Ryder Cup as if born for the big stage.
Phil Mickelson, one of Pieters’s victims on Saturday, could be forgiven if he looked at him and saw Nicolas Colsaerts, Philip Walton, Phillip Price and Ignacio Garrido — resplendent rookies from Europe who had tripped up American opponents over the years.