Thomas Pieters unbothered by five-hour opening round at International Series England event

Thomas Pieters wasn't bothered by the pace of play after a five-hour opening round at the International Series England event on the Asian Tour.

Pieters carded a bogey-free 7-under 64 on the Longcross Course at Foxhills on Thursday. 

The big Belgian put circles on his scorecard at 1, 2, 14, 15 and 18. 

He also made easy work of the 534-yard par-5 5th hole, tucking away an eagle after a sublime approach. 

Pieters teed off at 11.50am alongside England's Richard Bland, who carded a 5-under 66, and Jason Kokrak (76). 

By the time Pieters rolled in his closing birdie it was gone 5pm. 

"It's normal when you have 160 players [in the field] on a short, tight golf course," Pieters told GolfMagic when asked about the pace of play. 

"It's not odd, it's fine." 

"I had no expectations"

Pieters said he had no expectations before coming into this event. 

He is a member at the uber-exclusive Queenwood down the road which Rory McIlroy frequents and it suits his eye, he said.

"I drove it really well," he said. "Obviously putted really nicely today. 

"The course kind of suits me, it's very similar to where we play the Belgian Open and the course I practice at which is tight and narrow.

"If you do hit driver [well] then you can get close on a lot of par-4s and make this course easy if you hit it straight."

Pieters' results have been somewhat mixed this year. 

His two starts on the DP World Tour have yielded two top-10 finishes. 

In the LIV Golf League, he has also only posted two top-10 finishes after 11 events. 

Asked about his expectations this week, he said: "I wouldn't call it form, but I feel good over the golf ball. I'm putting nicely. 

"So yeah, I really had no expectations this week but I know the area and I feel comfortable here."

This tournament has a total prize purse of $2,000,000. 

The winner will receive $360,000. 

Pieters, Bland and Kokrak will tee off at 6.50am on Friday. 

Watched our latest YouTube video?