Joost Luiten's path to the 2024 Paris Olympics has been a roller coaster. The Dutch golfer initially qualified into the 60-player field for the Games, but his home country denied him the ability to play because it did not believe he had a chance of winning.
The Netherlands Golf Federation claimed that the Dutch committee that oversees the Olympics told Luiten "it has not been demonstrated that there is a reasonable chance of a top eight ranking during the Olympic games," according to the Associated Press, which is why Luiten and Darius Van Driel were denied entry into the event. On the women's side, Dewi Weber was kept from going, but Anne Van Dam was allowed to play.
Luiten, who has six European Tour victories in his career, has not seen the winner's circle since the 2018 Oman Open. However, despite a 40th-place finish in the Olympic rankings, he did not place high enough for the Dutch committee. As the AP explains it:
For men, anyone finishing outside the top 27 in the Olympic ranking would have to record a top-eight finish in a tournament — provided that tournament had five players from the top 50 in the world or 10 from the top 100. Anything less would require a top-four finish.
Luiten is ranked No. 159 in the Official World Golf Rankings -- ahead of 20 players in the field -- yet he did not meet those stricter qualifications put in place by the Netherlands.
That led to a court battle. Luiten, who finished 27th at the 2016 Rio Olympics, won his case case, clearing him to play at Le Golf National this August. However, as that played out, his spot in the Olympic field was given away by the International Golf Federation.
The IGF, which is the "recognized international federation within the Olympic movement," released a statement earlier this week regarding its decision. It also claimed the International Olympic Committee denied a request to expand the field size that way Luiten, who legitimately qualified to play, could be included in the tournament.
When the IGF received notification of Joost Luiten's court ruling in the Netherlands and his entry from the Netherlands' National Olympic Committee (NOC*NSF), his unused quota spot had already been reallocated pursuant to the IGF's published qualification procedures.
The IGF was not a party to the legal action brought forth by Luiten in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, in an effort to support Luiten, the IGF sought an exception from the IOC to increase the field size of the men's Olympic golf competition from 60 to 61 competitors to include Luiten, however the request was denied by the IOC today.
The IGF has advised Luiten of the IOC's decision, and he has not informed the IGF whether he intends to pursue this matter further.
Dismayed by the news, Luiten posted on Instagram: "I can't take the Olympics (IOC) serious anymore! If they say the fundamentals of the olympic games are about INTEGRITY, FAIRPLAY and RESPECT you are all lies! Even though I have been qualified by their own rules and entered before the entry deadline! They don't let me play!"
Luiten's spot in the Olympics was given to Tapio Pulkkanen of Finland, who is ranked 408th in the OWGR, 249 spots behind Luiten.
