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Belgium held off a late charge by the Australian team of Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith to win the World Cup of Golf for the first time.
World Cup of Golf winner Thomas Pieters used to fish golf balls out of the water hazards and sell them to the members at his local golf club as a child in Antwerp, Belgium.
On Sunday, he combined with childhood best mate Thomas Detry to win a lion's share of the $US7 million ($A9.67m) World Cup at Melbourne's Metropolitan Golf Club.
The Belgian duo signed for a four-under-par 68 in the final-round foursomes format and at 23-under they earned a three-shot win from Australians Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith (65) as well as Mexican duo Roberto Diaz and last week's Australian Open winner Abraham Ancer (66).
European Tour players Pieters and Detry each banked $US1.1 million ($A1.5 million) for Belgium's first World Cup win and the biggest payday of their careers.
"You play with your best mate and a dream come true; there's nothing like representing your country on the other side of the world," Detry said.
Belgium held off a stern challenge from Australia, who rattled off birdies at the eighth and ninth before another three consecutive ones from the 12th.
However Leishman missed a short birdie putt at the par-4 16th which would have pulled Australia within one shot when Belgium bogeyed the 15th.
"We felt the guys coming; Australia coming right behind us and we answered it with a birdie, so I think we handled the situation very well," Pieters said.
The pair say it's a victory almost 20 years in the making having grown up playing golf together in Antwerp.
Detry and Pieters attended the same high school before both headed to the US to play collegiate golf at the University of Illinois.
"We've known each other since we were eight years old; when he went to America I followed him," Detry said.
Pieters was tipped as a rising star on the European Tour when he won twice in 2015 and again in 2016.
But neither Pieters nor Detry, whose only previous professional victory was on the European Tour's secondary Challenge circuit in 2016, had lifted a trophy in more than two years before the World Cup.
The 26-year-old Pieters believes it will be a springboard to bigger things in 2019.
"I told (Detry) on 18 his drive was the drive of somebody who is going to win next year, for sure," he said.
"I can tell how much adrenaline was going through his body by how far it went.
"I think we'll take a lot of confidence out of this; it's a shame the season's over for us now. "
