Defending champion Thomas Pieters has been forced to withdraw from the KLM Open after a seemingly innocuous bee sting led to a major allergic reaction and left the 24 year old Ryder Cup star unable to compete at The Dutch.
Pieters was stung by a bee on Monday afternoon during a challenge match against Dutch number one Joost Luiten.
The Belgian broke the news via his Instagram account (Thomaspietersgolf), saying: “The very unfortunate worst case scenario just happened.... One bee sting on Monday during the golf challenge against @joostluitengolfer led to a major allergic reaction with flu symptoms, and forced me to pull out of my favourite tournament of the year #KLMOpen. Very sorry to all the fans that are on their way to support me and to the organisation @tgsport. I owe it to you guys to defend my title next year.”
