PRO GOLFER RACES FOR 25-HOURS STRAIGHT – Behind The Aces Ep. 2

This video features professional golfer, Thomas Pieters, as he takes on a 25-hour endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium with his brother and best friend under their team, Big 3 Racing. The film captures their journey from preparation to completion of the grueling event, highlighting teamwork, determination, and Thomas’s passion for competition beyond golf. It offers fans a rare, personal look at Pieters off the course—showing his drive, family bond, and love for adrenaline-fueled challenges. The second half of the video follows him as he heads, the following week, to LIV Golf Spain to compete on the golf course. It shows the contrast of his competing on a high level on the track and the golf course.

0:00 – Thomas Pieters returns to form in golf
0:32 – The rush of racing for the first time
1:45 – How Big 3 Racing was born
3:05 – Racing with his brother and best friend
4:45 – Inside the 25 Hours of Spa: chaos, rain & teamwork
7:53 – The crash, the comeback, and crossing the finish line
9:59 – Switching gears: from race car to golf club
12:00 – Golf vs racing: mindset, adrenaline & focus
13:00 – The real Thomas Pieters: teammate, competitor, brother
15:55 – What’s next for Big 3 Racing and Thomas’s journey

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His most recent win at the KM Open put Peters in the top 100 on the World Golf Rankings and Thomas Peters. [Applause] Thomas Peters is back at the top table. I love it. I love being on the floor races. [Music] The first moment I got behind the the wheel of the car, it was the biggest rush I’ve ever had. [Music] [Music] Yeah, it’s kind of addictive. Like you want to keep doing it. So, the first time I was behind the wheel of the race car, it was the biggest rush I’ve ever had. Just you were in on such a high and then you drive home or the next day I felt like super down almost. It was it was the coolest thing ever and yeah, it’s kind of addictive like you want to keep doing it. About 25 years ago, we went to see a team. It was a dad with his three kids. They did the 25 hours of spare in this in this type of car. And I think we were about it then 12 12 and 8. And we said then like one day we want to do it. I would follow Formula 1 or motorsport, but not like super into it. But I knew I want to do it myself. And then a year ago or a past year, like one of those guys, like the kids said, “Let’s join us for a carting race.” So, we did it like a month later, we tried out in one of those cars and then we got hooked. So, we pulled in one of our friends. We said, “Let’s let’s just try it out.” And 2 years ago, I bought my brother a race car for his birthday. And then it was like, “Hey, what are we going to do with this?” So, we got we bought two cars. We now bought a garage. So, we’re uh we’re very deep into the whole uh sport by now. My my brother and then our other friend Steph, we’ve just had this WhatsApp group for for a long time. Since we’re all really tall, we somebody joked that we were like the Jordan Pippen and and Robman. I mean, it has nothing to do with basketball, but we that was our profile picture on what’s happening. You know, when you start a racing team, what’s our name? That was kind of logic. My brother and I were best friends. are super close and I think we just kind of made a point of doing stuff like this together. I think when you work really hard and and you know you start earning money and whatever it that’s not the reason. I think like experiences that’s what like stays in your in your head forever. So um I think doing more stuff like this would be uh goal in life. Yeah. It’s so different like your mindset on the golf course. You can talk yourself into bad stuff so often cuz you’ve got so much time. Racing is just like reacting. I remember this instance where there’s a an accident in front of me and this car comes to a complete stand and you have to swerve it at the last minute and it’s crazy how your brain and your reaction just does it. Um that’s not golf. Would the racing affect gameplay? Absolutely. He’s sitting down and mind you it’s a Volkswagen bug. He’s what 63 6’4. He’s not a small guy. watching them get in and out when they change drivers or ripping them out of the cars. There’s a lot of things that could potentially go wrong. Um so making sure that his his hip flexors rotate rotating um muscles are are allowing his body to do what he’s going to do this week was was vital for me being there. Our main goal was to finish the race. I mean we were rookies, so we didn’t really know what to expect. First of all, it’s the biggest and the longest race on earth. So it’s 25 hours. All the rest is 24 hours. Uh it’s very uh epic because it’s on a legendary racetrack here in Spa. 125 cars on track uh battling with the same power. Uh everything is the same on the car. So it’s really the driver that makes uh that makes a difference. One of the hardest parts is just finishing the race cuz so much people crash during 25 hours. So we are with a team called SGRT. They have about eight or 10 mechanics for two cars. And then every team has a has a principal that is on the radio looking at your times, looking at uh when you need to get gas, looking at getting instructions from race commission and they’re constantly kind kind of communicating with you to give you instruction. So for us, the most important thing is to read the race and decide when we need to refuel because the car doesn’t show how much fuel is left in the tank. So we have to track every lap to see how much fuel there is left and then we um can estimate the fuel level and decide when we need to refill. The whole preparation in front of a race, getting a car speced out, making sure it runs perfectly. I think that’s all the the prep work that the mechanics do and it makes sure that we get a a beautiful race to run. So a big big thanks always to the mechanics and just the race directors. Going into the race, I wasn’t quite sure, you know, what it would be like. Like, you know, you got Formula 1, NASCAR, like they’re the top. Like, where where does this kind of fall into that? Is it just a couple guys getting in a car on a weekend and driving and racing and and I was actually kind of blown away by the fact that they have a commissioner, the teams? We had like four or five paddics. We had our own personal chef. He had his own team with with the monitors on call with the guys in the car the whole time. So I I was actually overly surprised by that and and I I really genuinely enjoyed it. Yes. So we have here one screen uh that’s the whole track. So when the the during the race we we can all see the the cars driving so we can follow where the car is on the track. So it’s easy to to follow them. Yeah. So was the first time we drove 25 hours in a row then and on its own it’s something it’s something unique something special [Music] [Music] what stood out the most for me was just the nights cuz the circus the circuit is pitch black cuz Spafon is in the woods. So even if you’re on of course there’s 115 cars on track so you’re always fighting and you have these big lead bars in front of you. So if there’s cars behind you’re just blinded by those lights. But once you’re alone it you can’t even see the corner. So you go you’re going about max 195 km an hour. But when you approach like a corner you can’t even see it. So you have to drive close to the side so you see the white line and when the curb starts. So you know when to break it. It feels a bit dangerous, but on the other hand, it’s it’s it feels super peaceful. So that feeling for me was magic. When my stint ended, I just got out of the car with a big smile and said like, “This is the this is probably the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.” Uh the biggest challenge with the race was just keeping the car on track for 25 hours. We drove in the rain for about 19 to 20 hours and like heavy rain. So, you know, you’ve got spray, you’ve got curtain of of rain in front of you when you’re driving, you know, 5 in like behind the car in front of you and you can’t see crap. I think at about 1:00 at night, Thomas got hit by a car. Apparently, two guys were fighting. Uh, one lost control. He hit him in the back, pushed him broke the rear, pushed him in the gravel. He was able to get out, but I think now we have to fix stuff up. You can see like, you know, he got bumped in and the car. There’s a little bit of an accident and he was genuinely mad. He was upset that somebody hit him. Oh man, I was shouting. I was cursing. The girl in my in my ear was like, “God, stay calm.” And and the whole back of his car was broken. So, he comes in. There’s just six people just jumping on that car, fixing it with duct tape and tie reps as fast as they can. So, I think we lost about 7 minutes and then we went back on. We never had an issue again. Hey guys, quick update. Um, we had some damage to the car, but we’re making up ground. One of the drivers is doing a really good stint. We’re in 60 position. Um, and going up. So, yeah. [Music] what it felt like to finish the race. Um, I remember the last 10 minutes were although I wasn’t in the car, it was nerve-wracking cuz you’re like anything could go wrong still. And then when you finally passed the the finish line, it was uh it was a big relief. Yeah, being able to to finish that race. I’m I’m super lucky like the team said like you you can finish it’s one of your dreams so finish the race just going over the finish after 25 hours just feels it feels amazing. We we started 103rd at 115 I think it was 118 and we finished 55th. So we were very happy when you know there’s like professional drivers at the front end guys have done it for 20 years and then it’s us the first year. um you know, whatever the placement is, but we we were just proud of ourselves to finish each other. So, what’s the mindset change? How can you like walk in this week? Um I’m replaying all these memories um from last week. I don’t know. I’ve I’m I’m having so much fun like on and off the golf course. I’m just going to enjoy it this week. I mean, I’m I’m hitting it well. I’m I’m I’m playing pretty decent at the moment. So, it’s not a track I’ve played well at in the past, but um we got to turn it around at some point. I think it would be amazing like you we accomplished something pretty cool on track. It would be nice now to come here completely relaxed, maybe some sore shoulders from all the the breaking, but then just compete here and and just perform and maybe break the the tradition of not performing here as he said. We’ll see like if he feels relaxed, if he feels good, he’s he’s he’s a good player, so he’ll take care of it. Uh my goal this week, my buddies have been sending me memes and stuff from from last year how uh shitty I’ve done at this event. Um so I told them if I finish in the points, I will I’ll personally bring them a case of beer next week. As the Live Golf League begins the European swing of the 2025 season, Royale club Falderama welcomes the best field in the game for the third time. Beautiful this part of the clubhouse, isn’t it? Like the history in that Thomas Peters at five. Very difficult to claw things back here at Belorama. similarities between golf and racing are I think you get to a certain level if you’re an athlete you’ll get to a certain level pretty quick the gap between like the really good drivers and us that that’ll take years and years and I think it’s the same with golf like you can get you know to a to a five or six handicap but then between that and the pros it’s just light years and just having the balls to take corners flat out and stuff like I do it as a hobby I don’t want to kill myself so this is like there’s a big gap that maybe I I’ll never reach which is fine but I just enjoy doing it. It is super Saturday at Live Golf Ander Lucia at the legendary rail club Valddorama. So what people don’t know about Thomas I think is he’s a big team player. He wants people to perform at the highest level while the race is going or while the tournaments is going. is just supporting each other to perform better, but in the end it’s just breaking balls because you beat each other. Yeah. To Thomas is a a fun, loving, energetic guy, and I absolutely love being around him. Whether it’s the the four races and the camaraderie that he has amongst the the teammates or the camaraderie he has with his brother and his best friends growing up that were his teammates for the race, Thomas is the same person on the golf course as he is on the track. He’s a competitor at it. So, and like I said, and I’ll say this over and over again, if he wasn’t a professional golfer, he’d be a professional athlete in a different arena because he’s very athletic, but also his mentality, the space between his ears, he’s he’s competitive, right? He wants to get in that car, he wants to win, right? He wants to push the car, his body, everything to the max so that he can perform optimally, right? And that’s what that’s what it’s all about. It’s a good balance between like competitive sportmanship, but also feeling like a family and getting together. And you want to beat them, but you want them to perform well because it also makes you perform better. This is day three of live golf and elucia. [Music] [Music] Thomas in the golf world is a little bit misunderstood because of his angry you know and he’s like oh in the racing it’s he’s just like having fun and cheering and he always also in the car he will be like oh you idiot but then it’s like damn well it let’s go. Thomas at the end of the day is just a very extremely passionate and competitive guy, right? So, you see those moments where he’s angry at himself for hitting the ball incorrectly or doing, you know, not hitting it where he wanted, whatever. And you get those moments, you see it on TV, you see it on social media, but the end of the day, that’s not him to his to his core. He’s just a passionate, competitive guy and he’s going to go out there and compete as best as he can. And listen, when you’re playing a a sport where it’s mostly played in your mind, it could be easy to to get distracted and throw a club and be mad at yourself. But he’s a passionate guy. Um, I mean, finishing second to last and and then third to last the last two years wasn’t uh I wouldn’t say the course suited me. So, I’m I’m kind of happy I’ve uh you know, I’ve played well this week and um I owe three of my friends a a case of beer because I said if I finish in the points um they could get a case of beer cuz they didn’t believe I could do it. Of course, I’m incredibly proud what this guy has accomplished. He’s been hustling, training since he was six years old. And I think that’s not what people see often. They only see when they end up on tour. So I’ve seen his whole journey and I’m been Yeah. Of course, as a brother, you’re super proud at the level that he plays. What would you tell Thomas if you could tell him one thing? Just be yourself. That’s all. Don’t grow above you. Just be two foots on the on the ground and be yourself. Just like he was always. The next thing what we want to do with big tree racing is just keep keep racing this series because it’s because it’s so raw and pure. There’s a lot of really good drivers that drive these series just to have fun or just to to practice. So, we want to keep racing this series, maybe race more series uh more races during the years. They’re going international. They’re going to South Africa next year. They’re going to Daytona the year after. So, we might want to see if we can do those two and then maybe later on just maybe drive other cars. Let’s see where it takes us. Nobody deserves anything in this world. Everything that we get is earned. And I think Thomas is putting in the work to earn a victory. And I do feel like that’s coming there. The skills there. The stuff that he needs to um kind of hone in on is the mental aspect of the game. And I think he’s putting in the work. He’s got his his mental coach to to work on those things. But does he deserve to win? No. I think he’s he’ll do everything he can to earn earn that victory. And that’s how I genuinely feel it. Just tell me how happy are you with your current place in life and where everything’s taking you so far? Uh, currently I’m pretty happy with my life. Um, you know, I just completed my first 25 5h hour race. Um, playing golf on live. Um, there’s a lot to be happy about. Um, and I am. So, thank you. It’s a great question, Antonio. [Music]