Joost Luiten's increasingly-convoluted journey towards potentially teeing it up at the Paris Olympics next month has taken another more positive turn, as far as the Dutch golfer is concerned.
The International Golf Federation announced on Saturday, July 13 that Luiten - a six-time DP World Tour winner - would be placed on the reallocation list for the 60-man tournament at Le Golf National.
He is now the first alternate for 21 players and could end up regaining a place he originally earned if the likes of Viktor Hovland, Sepp Straka, or Adrian Meronk pull out before the men's Olympic golf tournament begins on Thursday, August 1.
In a statement, the IGF said: "Joost Luiten of the Netherlands has been placed on the reallocation list for the men’s Olympic golf competition based on his final Olympic Golf Ranking from 17 June 2024.
"The International Golf Federation (IGF) recognises an error was made by the Dutch NOC*NSF with its qualification criteria and subsequently during the confirmation process for men’s Olympic golf qualifier Joost Luiten.
"This error was confirmed via legal process, though only after the field for the men’s Olympic golf competition was finalised pursuant to the IGF's published qualification procedures.
"The IGF's subsequent request to the IOC to expand the field for the men’s Olympic golf competition to allow Luiten’s entry was denied, as previously announced."
As per the statement, Luiten thought he had made it to Paris as part of the Netherlands squad after sitting 40th in the IGF's men's Olympic rankings at the culmination of the qualification period.
He was then told by the NOC*NSF that he - along with fellow Dutch nationals Darius van Driel and Dewi Weber - had “no reasonable chance of a top-eight ranking during the Olympic Games” and only LET star Ann van Dam would be representing the Netherlands in golf.
As a result, the 38-year-old announced he was taking the NOC*NSF to court over their decision. Luiten won the legal battle and had the decision overturned, only to find out that his spot in the field had already been given away.
In a statement on Tuesday, the International Golf Federation said: “When the International Golf Federation (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 went on to try and convince the International Olympic Committee to expand the field to 61 players so that Luiten could regain his rightful spot, but that request was denied.
Following the IGF's statement, an emotional Luiten posted on Instagram to share his obvious frustration.
He said: "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 quailified by their own rules and entered before the entry deadline! They don’t let me play! They don’t take the Dutch law as there jurisdiction and my spot in The Olympics had already been given away to somebody else because the @NOCNSF withdrew me early! Now they don’t want to give me my spot back!!!
"I don’t see any fair play or respect from the IOC, so how can they say The Olympic games are build on those fundamentals?? It is all POLITICS and all they care about is that they have their own party at the olympics with their mates!!"
The World No.159 was playing at the Scottish Open this week but missed the cut ahead of his 10th Open Championship appearance next week at Royal Troon.
All 21 Players Joost Luiten Could Replace At 2024 Paris Olympics
- Viktor Hovland
- Sepp Straka
- Thomas Detry
- Adrian Meronk
- Sami Valimaki
- Kevin Yu
- C.T. Pan
- Carl Yuan
- Camilo Villegas
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart
- Shubhankar Sharma
- Rafael Campos
- Gavin Green
- Gaganjeet Bhullar
- Nico Echavarria
- Mito Pereira
- Kris Ventura
- Zecheng Dou
- Fabrizio Zanotti
- Joel Girrbach
- Tapio Pulkkanen
