Joost Luiten’s saga to compete in the 2024 Olympics took another turn — and this one didn’t go in his favor.
Luiten, a native of the Netherlands, qualified for the Summer Games in Paris but his governing body for golf decided not to send him and other members of his country. Luiten wrote on social media that the Dutch Olympic Committee required the likelihood of a top-eight finish in the 60-man, 72-hole competition and denied him because it did not feel he would be able to do so.
Luiten, a 38-year-old DP World Tour veteran, took his case to a Netherlands court, which ruled in his favor.
“The Olympic rings are colored again,” he posted on his official Instagram account on July 2. “I have WON the court case and the NOCNSF have to enter me before 5 PM today!!!”
But Luiten, who represented his country in the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janiero, is back on the outside looking in as the International Olympic Committee went against the wishes of the International Golf Federation.
“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 said in a statement on Tuesday. “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.”
Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen replaced Luiten in the 60-man Olympic field.
The IGF has advised Luiten of the IOC’s decision. According to the IGF, he has not informed the IGF whether he intends to pursue this matter further.
“It’s very painful when basically one or two people say you’re not good enough when you’ve met the criteria,” Luiten told the DP World Tour website last week. “It just wasn’t fair, and it was great that the judge saw that as well and that it shows that they can’t do whatever they want. They still need to explain why they are making certain decisions, and I think that’s the good thing about this.”
The men’s golf competition is set to take place from Aug. 1-4 at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, France, southwest of Paris.