It was a bit of a shock to the system landing back in cold and frosty Brussels on Monday afternoon after almost a month in Dubai! But it feels great to be back home and I have already had a great chance to reflect on the year.

The 2020 golfing season has finally come to an end and looking back, I feel that I have genuinely taken advantage of a difficult year to help progress towards my goals.

On reflection, there are indeed still some frustrations at not having won a tournament yet – especially having put myself in some great contention positions again over the summer. But having not only broken into the Top 100 in the World Rankings for the first time, I have also managed to firmly stay strong around that position for the remainder of the season and this has really given me a lot of confidence for moving on.

Despite the global pandemic and the intense bubble conditions we have all been enduring, 2020 also brought me the opportunity to play in my first Major Championship. And although it would have been significantly more exciting to have had spectators with us at Winged Foot this year…what an experience the US Open still managed to be! I truly can’t wait to play as many more editions of that Championship as possible!

Unfortunately the regular rule of players finishing inside the Top 30 on the Race to Dubai automatically qualifying for The Open Championship was removed this year…however – ending the season 18th on the rankings has secured me a start at the World Golf Championship in Mexico in February. My first appearance in a WGC event and I am impatient to get out there already!

“Ending the season 18th on the rankings has secured me a start at the World Golf Championship in Mexico in February...I can't wait to get out there already!”

I want to take this opportunity now to thank all of my sponsors individually for their support this year.

First of all to Callaway for delivering another season of such reliable service that you wouldn’t even know they had been operating during a pandemic! Also to everyone at the Bank Delen headquarters! Despite all the restrictions and logistical difficulties this year has presented, myself and Pieters were still able to participate in our annual Corporate Days with the team, which were equally, if not more enjoyable than ever!

A huge thank you also goes out to Valentin, Patricia and everyone else involved working with me at Hugo Boss. Each year they manage to ensure that every part of our partnership is always so smooth and well organised and the clothing range in 2020 has unquestionably been better than ever!

Thank you to GFore for continuously creating such cool new products and content that I genuinely question whether its physically possible for a brand to better combine the traditional style of the game of golf with such an up to date fresh vibe!

It also remains a huge honour for me to be a Rolex ambassador. However, needless to say, I have very much missed their presence on Tour this year and am very much looking forward to the time we are able to visit their hospitality tents on site at events again! Last but not least – thank you to Alexis and all the team at Mannes. For giving me such strong support on both a personal and professional level and I hope it won’t be too long before we can be back walking the fairways together on Tour!

Furthermore I need to say a big thank you to my team and coaches too! With the strict bubble restrictions in place over the summer, the importance of everyone has been massively highlighted to me and I feel very fortunate to have such a great group of people around me.

Without a doubt, my new caddy Mike has been the biggest bonus to the team this year. He’s managed to inject an amazing extra energy amongst us on and off the course and his passion towards his work and the game has definitely had a knock on effect on me too! Thank you to my ‘on Tour’ family, Jerome and Fabien, for all your support, efforts and entertainment on the road! And also to both Richard and Mich, my coaches back in Brussels for the background work they do to continually boost my development. As usual, thanks as well to Excel Sports for being constantly on the ball and for their guidance in every step that I take.

“The importance of everyone has been massively highlighted to me and I feel very fortunate to have such a great group of people around me”

I want to sign off now with one last special thank you message to all of my friends and family. Because this year, instead of immersing me with support on the course by travelling to each and every event across the calendar…I got to spend time with everyone in lockdown at home, reminding me most importantly, exactly how fortunate I am to have so much in my life away from golf too.

With all that said, I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and New Year and cheers to all the great things that came out the craziness of 2020. This time next year I hope to be sitting inside the Top 50 and with one or two new trophies on my mantlepiece too! I look forward to having you all continue the journey with me!

Best wishes! Thomas