Joost Luiten

Willibrordus Adrianus Maria "Joost" Luiten (born 7 January 1986) is a Dutch professional golfer who plays on the European Tour.

Joost Luiten
Luiten in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Willibrordus Adrianus Maria Luiten
Born	(1986-01-07) 7 January 1986 (age 39) Bleiswijk, Netherlands
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb; 11 st 0 lb)
Sporting nationality	Netherlands
Residence	Bleiswijk, Netherlands
Career
Turned professional	2006
Current tour(s)	European Tour
Former tour(s)	Challenge Tour Alps Tour EPD Tour
Professional wins	9
Highest ranking	28 (23 November 2014)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour	6
Asian Tour	1
Challenge Tour	2
Other	1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament	T26: 2014
PGA Championship	T21: 2012
U.S. Open	T39: 2015
The Open Championship	T32: 2019

Early life and amateur career

Luiten was born in Bleiswijk and started playing golf at 6 years old at Golf Centrum Rotterdam.^[2] As an amateur, he won the 2005 Spanish Amateur Open Championship and German Amateur Open Championship.^[3]

He represented his country at the 2004 European Boys' Team Championship^[4] and was selected for the 2006 Palmer Cup. Luiten was a member of the 2006 Dutch team that won the Eisenhower Trophy after he played his last five holes in six under par.

Professional career

After a failed bid for a European Tour card at Qualifying School in late 2006, Luiten started his professional career on the EPD Tour where he claimed second place twice in just four starts.

Reaching the final stage of Q School gave him limited status on the 2007 Challenge Tour. He made his first start at the Tusker Kenya Open, where he birdied the 72nd hole for a share of tenth place. This was enough to earn himself a start in the next tournament, where he finished third. In his third start, he won the A.G.F. Allianz Golf Open de Toulouse.^[5] A month later he won the Vodafone Challenge, setting a record for lowest final round by a Challenge Tour winner with a 61 (−11).^[6] He went on to finish sixth in the 2007 Challenge Tour rankings and receive a European Tour card for 2008,^[7] in addition to finishing second at the European Tour's KLM Open in August 2007.^[8]

In January 2008, Luiten reached the top 100 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. He claimed two top-10 finishes on the European Tour before a wrist injury curtailed his season. He returned from injury in late 2009 and played the start of the 2010 season on a minor medical exemption, securing his card for the rest of 2010 with a top-ten finish at the Joburg Open. He finished the season 28th on the Race to Dubai, aided by a late run of three straight top-five finishes.

In November 2011, Luiten won his first tournament on the European Tour with a victory in the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia, which also gave him his highest world ranking position to that point, at 66th.^[9] He finished in the top 30 of the Race to Dubai for the second consecutive year, ranked 24th.

Luiten won for the second time on the European Tour in June 2013 at the Lyoness Open in Austria. He took a three stroke advantage into the final round and shot a one-under-par 71 to finish two ahead of Thomas Bjørn. He became only the second player from the Netherlands to record multiple European Tour victories, after Robert-Jan Derksen.^[10]

In 2014, Luiten won the ISPS Handa Wales Open^[11] and finished third at the Volvo Golf Champions, sixth at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, fourth at the Open de España, third at the Lyoness Open and third at the Volvo World Match Play Championship. By the end of November, he reached 28th in the Official World Golf Ranking, the high ranking in his career. He also played in the United States, finishing 13th at the WGC-Cadillac Championship and 26th at the Masters Tournament and PGA Championship.

In the first half of 2016 Luiten collected eight top-10 finishes in 15 events, with second places in consecutive weeks at the Real Club Valderrama Open de España and the Shenzhen International. In August, he represented Netherlands at the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing tied for the 27th place.^[12] The following month, he went on to win for the second time the KLM Open, matching the course record with an 8-under par 63 on the final round.^[13]

In February 2018, Luiten won the NBO Oman Open, beating Chris Wood by two shots.^[14]

2024 Olympics controversy

In June 2024, Luiten qualified to play in the 2024 Summer Olympics via his world ranking (147). The Dutch Olympic Committee did not allow him and Darius van Driel (ranked 237) to participate since they required their participants to be ranked in the top 27 of the Olympic Golf Ranking and have "a realistic chance at a medal".^[15] Luiten initially appealed against the Dutch Olympic Committee for prohibiting him to play, considering that he was eligible. He won the appeal.^[16] However, Luiten was denied access to play due to his initial entry being removed by the Dutch Olympic Committee and his place being taken by Tapio Pulkkanen.^[17]

Amateur wins

• 2004 Dutch Boys Championship, Dutch Youths Championship
• 2005 Spanish International Amateur Championship, German Amateur Open Championship

Professional wins (9)

European Tour wins (6)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	20 Nov 2011	Iskandar Johor Open1	−15 (63-70-65=198)*	1 stroke	Daniel Chopra
2	9 Jun 2013	Lyoness Open	−17 (65-68-67-71=271)	2 strokes	Thomas Bjørn
3	15 Sep 2013	KLM Open	−12 (69-65-66-68=268)	Playoff	Miguel Ángel Jiménez
4	21 Sep 2014	ISPS Handa Wales Open	−14 (65-69-65-71=270)	1 stroke	Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry
5	11 Sep 2016	KLM Open (2)	−19 (69-64-69-63=265)	3 strokes	Bernd Wiesberger
6	18 Feb 2018	NBO Oman Open	−16 (72-66-66-68=272)	2 strokes	Chris Wood

*Note: The 2011 Iskandar Johor Open was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.
¹Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2013	KLM Open	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	Won with par on first extra hole

Challenge Tour wins (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	13 May 2007	A.G.F. Allianz Golf Open de Toulouse	−17 (70-71-66-64=271)	1 stroke	Nicolas Vanhootegem
2	10 Jun 2007	Vodafone Challenge	−18 (70-68-71-61=270)	2 strokes	Magnus A. Carlsson

Alps Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	18 Jul 2009	Circolo Rapallo Golf Open	−8 (71-65-66=202)	Playoff	Thomas Fournier, Andrea Perrino

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Masters Tournament				T26	CUT
U.S. Open				CUT	T39
The Open Championship	T63	T45		CUT	CUT	CUT	T44
PGA Championship		T21	CUT	26	CUT	T33	CUT

Tournament	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship	T64	T51
U.S. Open
The Open Championship	T32	NT	CUT		T71	CUT

  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied for place
NT = no tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

Tournament	Wins	2nd	3rd	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
PGA Championship	0	0	0	0	0	1	8	5
U.S. Open	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
The Open Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	5
Totals	0	0	0	0	0	1	22	12

• Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2011 Open Championship – 2012 PGA)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	2014	2015
The Players Championship	T80	T51

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Championship			T13	T46		T25	T37	T10
Match Play			R64	T17		T39
Invitational	T63		T56	T45
Champions	T36		T28		T16			T34

  Top 10

  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied

Team appearances

Amateur

• European Boys' Team Championship (representing the Netherlands): 2004
• European Amateur Team Championship (representing the Netherlands): 2005
• European Youths' Team Championship (representing the Netherlands): 2006
• Bonallack Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)
• Eisenhower Trophy (representing the Netherlands): 2006 (winners)
• Palmer Cup (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)

Professional

• World Cup (representing the Netherlands): 2011, 2016, 2018
• Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 2013 (winners)
• EurAsia Cup (representing Europe): 2014 (shared)

See also

• 2007 Challenge Tour graduates