Days after winning a court judgement to allow him to play in men’s golf event at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Joost Luiten has been denied his chance to compete once again.
Luiten, 38, finished 40th in qualifying for the competition, well inside the top-60 cut-off for next month’s 72-hole medal event at Le Golf National.
However, his hopes of taking part appeared to be brutally crushed when the Dutch Olympic Committee judged that he and compatriot Darius van Driel had “no reasonable chance” of bringing a medal home for their country and, therefore, would not be put forward to compete.
Luiten took his complaint further, submitting a legal challenge the Dutch Olympic Committee last Tuesday. When that verdict came down in his favour, the six-time DP World Tour winner was reinstated to complete at the Games.
In a statement issued at that time, the International Golf Federation (IGF) said it was “pleased to share that Luiten was confirmed by the Dutch Olympic Committee and Dutch Sports Federations to compete in the men’s Olympic golf competition.”
Sadly for Luiten, however, that wasn’t the end of the story.
In a fresh twist, announced earlier today, the IGF has been forced to remove Luiten from the field after re-allocating his place before the outcome of his legal challenge was known.
In a statement, the IGF said: “When the IGF received notification of Joost Luiten’s court ruling in the Netherlands and his entry from the Netherlands’ National Olympic Committee, 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.”
It is not uncommon for individual countries to deny a place to otherwise qualified athletes in the Olympics Games on the grounds that they don’t think they will place highly in their event, but given that Luiten is far from being a rank outsider, it seemed harsh to deny the two-time Dutch Open champion a chance to compete for what was likely to be his first and last chance to represent his country at this level.
To check out the complete list of entrants for the men’s golf event in Paris, click here.