PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – When Thomas Pieters decided to skip the 2017 Players Championship, he had no idea what he was missing. All he knew is that he needed to go home.

“It’s a lonely place sometimes for Europeans [on the PGA Tour]. Everybody has their cliques and everyone travels with their family, which I get because it can be quite lonely on the road. I was flying so much and I’d had enough of it and was like, nope, not doing it anymore,” Pieters said Wednesday at TPC Sawgrass.

“Thinking about it now it’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, maybe. Look at this tournament, it’s unbelievable and I said no to it.”

Instead of playing in the PGA Tour’s marquee event, Pieters went snow skiing back home in Europe and ended up losing his Tour card. Now five years older and more comfortable with his choices, Pieters is the rare 30-year-old European Ryder Cup star and perennial top-50 player in the world ranking making his first start at TPC Sawgrass.

“I’ve had a kid, I have family now, they are going to come over [to the United States] and when you have something to look forward to when you go back home – and I didn’t have that – it gets easier,” he said.

Thanks to a torrid start to his DP World Tour season that included a victory in Abu Dhabi, Pieters plans to focus on the PGA Tour until later this summer with an eye toward reclaiming his Tour card.

And, of course, a regular spot in The Players field.