DP World Tour winner prevails in court battle and can now play in Olympic golf event
Six-time DP World Tour winner Joost Luiten has won his court case and will now be able to compete in the Olympic Golf Tournament in Paris this August.
Joost Luiten has confirmed he has won his court case against the Netherlands Olympic Committee and Netherlands Sports Federation, and will now be able to compete in the Olympic Golf Tournament in Paris this August.
Luiten, 38, is a six-time winner on the DP World Tour and he was fully exempt to compete in the 60-man Olympic Golf Tournament based on his ranking of 40th in the Olympic Golf Ranking (OGR) by the cut-off point.
However, the Netherlands Olympic Committee / Dutch Sports Federation had other ideas as they set up internal standards in place whereby if they did not believe you had a "realistic chance" of finishing in the top eight in the Olympics, then you would be denied a place in the Games.
Luiten told GolfMagic last week that their decision was 'complete bulls**t' and that he was very much intending to fight his case to play in the Olympics.
Fast forward a few days, and Luiten has now won his case and can prepare to compete in a second Olympic Golf event.
He finished T27 on Olympic debut in 2016.
Luiten posted via Instagram on Tuesday:
“The Olympic rings are colored again. I have WON the Court case and the @NOCNSF have to enter me before 5PM today!!! LET’s GO @olympics”
He then added the following post where he thanked his lawyers and the court for acting so swiftly on the case:
Earlier in the day, Luiten wrote:
“I will be fighting the decision to not send me to the Olympics by the NOC/NSF. We will put our case in front of a judge and get an independent judgement. An independent look to my case that’s something I have been looking for and know I have not been getting from the NOC/NSF.”
Ladies European Tour star Anne van Dam qualified for the Olympic Golf Tournament following her runner-up finish in the Tour Championship last fall.
She had been the only Dutch representative allowed to compete in the Olympics next month, prior to Luiten winning his court battle.
We are awaiting further comment from Luiten as to whether his fellow compatriots in DP World Tour pro Darius van Driel and Ladies European Tour pro Dewi Weber have also been successful in their appeals.
Luiten is currently preparing to compete in this week's BMW International Open over in Germany.
A similar situation has been playing out over in New Zealand as the country's Olympic committee has ruled that Ladies European Tour player Momoka Kobori, ranked 293rd in the world, will not be going to Paris.
Kobori is awaiting a decision on her appeal.
The Olympic golf tournaments will be staged at Le Golf National, venue of the 2018 Ryder Cup and annual Open de France.
The men's competition is 1-4 August, and the women play 7-10 August.
