Thomas Pieters plays final round of Italian Open in under two hours
Sunday 13 October 2019 15:02, UK
Thomas Pieters was not even close to contending for the Italian Open title on the final day, but he ended the tournament with a leading contender for fastest round of the year.
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Just a day after Eliud Kipchoge became the first man in history to run a marathon in under two hours, Pieters broke the two-hour barrier for 18 holes of tournament golf at Olgiata near Rome.
Out first on his own at 7:28am local time after a third-round 79 left him propping up the field, Pieters completed his final round in a remarkable one hour, 59 minutes according to the data on his fitness app that he published on social media.
Pieters opened with a birdie, just his ninth of a disappointing tournament, and he completed the front-nine around an hour after teeing off despite running up a triple-bogey seven at the eighth.
The big-hitting Belgian kept the pace up after the turn, and put together his best back-nine of the week as he mixed two birdies with seven pars and signed for a creditable level-par 71 - eight shots fewer than his third round which included a quintuple-bogey nine at the 12th.
His activity data showed that the 2016 Ryder Cup star burned 1,333 calories, and his average heart rate was 122 beats per minute, peaking at 173.
However, as unusual as it is to see a professional golfer play 18 holes in under two hours, Pieters' effort was a full half hour slower than the fastest recorded round on the PGA Tour, set by Wes Bryan on the final day of the BMW Championship two years ago.
