Thomas Pieters follows NCAA title with Monroe win

PITTSFORD, NY (June 16, 2012) -- Thomas Pieters held off a hard-charging Alex Edfort Saturday during the final round of the Monroe Invitational. The Illinois junior shot a final-round 2-under 68 to win the event by one shot over Edfort, of the University of Pacific. Pieters’ final-round score was his third consecutive sub-par round. After opening with 71 at Monroe Golf Club in Pittsford, N.Y., Pieters, of Nijlen, Belgium, put together rounds of 67-66-68 to climb the leaderboard. He shared the third-round lead with Edfort, but with a back-nine 33 on Saturday (which included an eagle at the par-5 12th), pulled ahead as Edfort went cold. The Monroe victory comes on the heels of the individual title at the NCAA Championship two weeks ago. Pieters shot 5-under 208 over 54 holes at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades to win that prestigious honor by three shots over TCU’s Julien Brun and Florida’s Tyler McCumber. Florida Gulf Coast’s Kyle English was solo third at 7-under 276 while Pieters’ teammate Mason Jacobs and Georgia Tech’s Anders Albertson finished tied for fourth another shot back. First- and second-round leader David Denlinger, of Charleston Southern, ended the tournament in a share of eighth. Denlinger opened with a 6-under 64 but didn’t shoot another score under 70.