Joost

Luiten

The 36-year-old Luiten last teed it up at the Soudal Open, where he carded back-to-back rounds of 72 and missed the cut. He’ll aim to draw on past success at his national open, which he’s won twice – in 2013 and 2015 – and has four other top 10s including a solo second in 2007. He’s missed the cut seven times in the event, though, including last year after shooting 72-72. On the season, Luiten has made four cuts in 10 starts with one top 10 – a T-10 at the Steyn City Championship in March. This year marks the first time the Dutch Open is part of The Open Qualifying Series for 2022. The tournament will offer three places in The 150th Open at St. Andrews for the leading three players (not otherwise exempt) finishing in the top 10 and ties. The Dutch Open also is the third stop in the four-event European Qualifying Series, with players battling for 10 available spots for the U.S. Open.

The Dutchman went 17-for-24 this season on the DP World Tour but landed just two top 10s. He settled for 89th in the Race to Dubai, his lowest rank since 2009 when he made just six starts and finished outside of the top 200. He also finds himself at the lowest point in the OWGR (286th) since 2010 when he first broke onto the scene. Luiten still managed to rank 46th off-the-tee, 39th on approach, and 30th in putting. He was bleeding back 0.31 strokes per round from an around-the-green perspective. There are plenty of positives to take out of 2021 despite the ho-hum results. Gamers shouldn’t count him out just yet and shouldn’t be surprised if he plays his way back into contention a few times in the upcoming season.

The 35-year-old Netherlands native won the event in 2013 and 2016, and regularly practices at Bernardus Golf, site of this year’s tournament. “I hope it will feel like coming home to a new course this year,” said Luiten, who finished T-10 in 2019. “I want to perform again, give some extras for the home crowd that can be present at tournaments again.” In 14 event appearances, he’s made eight cuts with the two wins and four other tops 10s, including runner-up in 2007. On the season, the six-time ET winner has made 15 cuts in 18 starts with two top 10s and he’s riding a streak of three straight finishes inside the top 35: He finished T-12 at the Czech Masters, T-18 at the Italian Open and T-35 at last week’s BMW PGA, where he birdied four of his last eight holes at Wentworth to finish with a 4-under 68.

Last week in Vienna, Luiten shot 71-70-69-72 to finish 6 under and just out of the top 10. The six-time European Tour winner hasn’t had a victory since the 2018 Oman Open, but he’s made the cut in six of seven starts this season and posted one top-10 finish – a T-7 at the Kenya Savannah Classic. He had a similar start in 2020, where he made the cut in his first seven starts and notched two top-10s, but then made just 9-of-15 with one top 10 the rest of the way. The 35-year-old Dutchman teed it up the PGA Championship in August at Harding Park and finished T-51. The 15-year veteran captured two wins (Lyoness Open, KLM Open) in 2013 en route to a career-best 11th place finish in the Race to Dubai rankings. He notched another victory in 2014 at the Wales Open and then found success again at the 2016 KLM Open for his fifth title.

That’s just one behind Andy Sullivan (F) and Jorge Campillo (thru 16). The Dutchman painted seven birdies on his card in round one but could only manage three at Education City GC today. However, he made them all count by handing in a clean card and, after 36 holes, the World No. 97 has swallowed just a single bogey. His day of error-free golf started with a trio of pars before he birdied the par-3 4th for the second day running. Patience was the name of the game and Luiten couldn’t pick up any shots on the course’s three par 5s. Indeed, the same applied to the par 4s. That meant all three birdies came on the short holes, the 34-year-old moving to within one of the pace with further circles on the par 3s at 12 and 15. That suggests there’s much more to come as he goes in search of a seventh European Tour title this weekend.

The Dutchman was part of the morning wave in the Middle East and when that pack had completed their laps he trailed only Nicolai Hojgaard by one shot, with Lorenzo Gagli, Thomas Pieters and Jorge Campillo one shot behind him. Surprisingly this is just a fourth tournament start for Luiten and although he missed the cut on debut in 2011 he added T13-T21 in 2016 and 2017. He is now on track to add to the top 25 tally and perhaps record a career best. He left the traps in sensational style from the tenth, ticking that hole and also the 11th and 13th. He added more red at the 18th and then continued to make progress on the front nine, ticking the first, fourth and seventh. His only error came late in the day, at the eighth, and it cost him a share of that lead with Hojgaard. He has 17 times been top three after 18 holes in his career and gained three wins from that position.

The Dutchman’s fondness for the Greg Norman design continues to express itself as he chases a second win there, 12 months after he was T12 on defense. It will be a cavalry charge, however, with that half dozen tied at the top and 15 players within four blows of the lead. Luiten went bogey-free on Saturday and having opened with a birdie at the first he added nine pars. When he broke the deadlock, however, he did so in style, draining birdies from outside 30’0" at the 11th and 12th, then lacing a beautiful tee shot at the par-3 13th and converting from 6’0". The 34-year-old will seek a seventh European Tour win on Sunday. He is 4-for-6 when having a 54-hole lead and has never dropped lower than T3 in such circumstances. This is only his second shared third round lead, but the previous one was when he won here in 2018.

The Dutchman enjoys Al Mouj Golf because after the victory in 2018 he was T12 on defense and only a R2 77 cost him the chance to go back-to-back. With this second 69 of the week he has now made it 7-for-10 at going sub-70 on the Greg Norman design and he will start the weekend just three blows back of the leaders Stephen Gallacher and Rasmus Hojgaard. His was a very up and down Friday. He opened and closed the front nine with bogeys, but thrashed a birdie at the second and then four in a row from the fourth. On the way home he started with gains at the 12th and 14th, but gave them back at the 15th and 17th.

With last year’s winner, Kurt Kitayama, playing the Honda Classic this week, Luiten is the only past champion in the field at this European Tour event which is in just its third edition. The Dutchman was also T12 when defending in 2019 so was a popular pick with gamers/bettors. He justified it this morning with four birdies and one bogey to record his sixth sub-70 round in nine laps of Al Mouj. Starting at 10, he made smooth progress with red circles at 12, 15 and 16 before his only blemish of the day at 18. The 34-year-old got the shot back at No. 2 and then parred his way in.

The Dutchman has always been something of a metronome in European Tour regular events and he’s been back ticking along since missing the Scottish and Irish Open cuts, playing four rounds every time. Four of those starts were in no-cut events, but it’s still impressive. On the flipside he has only two top tens in that run and both of them T10. Moreover, his seasonal openers have seen him go T42 in Abu Dhabi and T66 in Dubai, with just the one sub-70 score among those eight circuits. The return to this event will offer good memories however. He was T6 here last year, coming home on a wet sail with a lap of 63.