Thomas Pieters recently competed at the 2025 LIV Golf tournament in Dallas as part of the 4Aces team, captained by Dustin Johnson and including Patrick Reed and Harold Varner III. While the team format has added a new layer of camaraderie to his game, Pieters made headlines for a different reason during the tournament’s opening round.

In an unusual turn of events, Pieters stepped outside the ropes to confront a fan who was reportedly making negative remarks about his teammate Patrick Reed. While the specific insults weren’t made public, witnesses said Pieters looked visibly agitated as he approached the spectator, pointing his club in frustration. The moment felt tense, even as Reed remained calm and focused on his putt, briefly turning to gesture Pieters back toward the fairway. The incident has cost Pieters’ performance at the event, because of the distraction he made 4 bogeys and 1 double bogey during the first round, and his last round was not much impressive, as he made 3 bogeys and 2 double bogeys, which landed him at T35.

However, this wasn’t the first time Pieters had a moment where emotions took over on the course.

Back in 2018, during the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, he made headlines for snapping an 8-iron clean over his neck after a poor second shot on the par-5 fourth hole. Frustrated and clearly not pleased with his game, the Belgian let it show in a way that stunned even longtime golf fans. While some saw it as a loss of composure, others viewed it as a sign of just how much the game means to him.

Pieters has always been known for his emotional intensity. This latest outburst struck a different chord with fans, many of whom criticized the incident not as a show of passion but as a lapse in professionalism, sparking a largely negative reaction across social media.

Fans slam Thomas Pieters for his unprofessional behavior…

Many fans used the moment to take aim at what they see as the league’s lack of tradition and toughness. One comment read, “LIV isn’t the golf we grew up with… It’s not a gallery; they’re just fans. Fans boo and heckle all the time. LIV did this to themselves, and the players need to learn to deal with it.” Another simply added, “Sooo sensitive. LIV golfers are soft.” Unlike traditional PGA Tour events where galleries are steeped in decorum, LIV tournaments have drawn a looser, more casual crowd, leading many to argue that what happens outside the ropes is bound to be louder, less respectful, and harder to control. And this is a tradition at LIV events.

At the 2022 LIV Golf event in Bedminster, Phil Mickelson was heckled by a fan who shouted a comment about the Saudi Royal Family just as he was about to tee off. The remark clearly got to him, and he ended up bogeying the hole. Mickelson brushed it off afterward, but his round didn’t go as well as anticipated. 

One of the fans took it to another level, “Take a seat, Thomas, NO one cares, and you’re playing awful past 3 years.” While the comment was harsh, it reflected what many fans have been thinking. Since joining LIV Golf in 2023, Pieters has struggled to make a real impact. His last win came back in January 2022 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, so it’s been more than three years without a tournament victory. Even this year, out of the 9 events he has played so far, he has managed the best finish of T4 twice, once at Korea and then at Virginia.

While some of the fans even added, “I figure he was calling him a sellout and a cheater! So the fan was correct!” This comment ties back to a long-standing controversy involving Patrick Reed. In 2019, during the Hero World Challenge, Reed was penalized for improving his lie in a bunker by brushing sand away with his club, which was an act many viewed as cheating, despite Reed claiming it was unintentional, and Pieters still defending him seemed an unfair reaction.

Another fan took a shot at both Pieters and LIV’s small turnout, commenting, “Player steps outside the ropes then game on. If there had been more than 25 people there Thomas might’ve toted a whooping back inside the ropes,” suggesting that confronting a fan could have backfired badly if the crowd had been larger and the reaction showed just how little sympathy some viewers had for Pieters in the moment.