The Netherlands denies three golfers from participating in the Olympic Games in Paris

The Netherlands will not allow Joost Luiten, Darius Van Driel or Dewi Weber to represent the country in the men’s and women’s Olympic golf competitions in Paris.

Luiten and van Driel earned spots in the men’s tournament via their positions in the official world golf rankings at the cutoff date earlier this month. This also applied to Anne van Dam, the highest ranked Dutch woman in the world rankings for women, and Weber.

But Luiten, van Driel and Weber did not meet the additional national requirements of the Dutch Olympic Committee and the Dutch Sports Federation (NOC*NSF).

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For the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the Netherlands has set the standard that players must belong to the best 100 in the world or the best 36 in the Olympic rankings to be allowed to participate.

If that remains their standard, Luiten fell shy of No. 40 in the Olympic rankings and No. 147 in the world rankings; van Driel is No. 50 and No. 237 respectively.

The national sports association does not expect the golfers to achieve a high final ranking at the Olympic Games.

“NOC*NSF is of the opinion that there is insufficient reason to deviate from the national criteria. According to the sports association, there has been no reasonable chance of a top 8 ranking at the Olympic Games,” the Dutch Golf Federation said in a statement to the Golf.nl website.

In 2021, players ranked lower than Luiten won silver and bronze in the men’s competition. Rory Sabbatini scored a 61 in the final round to win silver, representing Slovakia, and Taiwan’s CT Pan took bronze after emerging from a seven-man play-off. They were ranked No. 161 and 181 in the world at the time of qualifying.

The only reason why Van Dam, number 108 in the world, is allowed to participate is not adhering to the rules of the national federation. According to Golf.nl, a player would be allowed to go to the Olympic Games if he finishes in the top eight of a tournament with a strong field, which Anne van Dam did by finishing second at the Open de Espana on the Ladies European Tour.