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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
Golfer Joost Luiten of the Netherlands won’t be going to the Olympics in Paris after all.
Luiten was one of four Dutch golfers who qualified through International Olympic Committee requirements — Darius Van Driel and female golfers Anne van Dam and Dewi Weber were the others. But his country’s national Olympic committee ruled it was only sending van Dam to Paris because it said the others didn’t have a realistic chance of finishing in the top eight in their respective tournaments.
Luiten, a six-time winner on the DP World Tour, took the Dutch Olympic committee to court and won. The Dutch judge ordered Luiten to be included in the 60-man field that will compete at Le Golf National outside Paris on Aug. 1-4. In a statement Tuesday, however, the International Golf Federation said Luiten’s “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,” the statement said. “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.”
Luiten was ranked No. 147 in the Official World Golf Ranking and 40th in the Olympic rankings at the time of the Dutch committee’s decision. It’s the second straight Olympics in which the country declined to send a full allotment of golfers to the competition because of their world rankings.
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini, who was ranked No. 161 in the world, carded a final-round 61 to capture a silver medal behind gold medalist Xander Schauffele.
Taiwan’s C.T. Pan, who was ranked No. 181 in the world, survived a seven-man playoff that included Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa to win a bronze medal.