Netherlands' Rawitten to Compete in Paris Olympics After Lawsuit

3 out of 4 Olympic Committee Members Give Up Considering Competitiveness
Legal Action Against Decision to Regain Olympic Eligibility

Dutch male golfer Joost Luiten secured a ticket to the Paris Olympics after a legal battle.

Yost Lawiton secured tickets for the Paris Olympics through a legal lawsuit.
[Photo by Golf Digest]

On the 2nd (local time), he announced through his social media (SNS), "Today is a very special day," adding, "The court ruled that the Dutch Olympic Committee must include Luiten on the Olympic representative list." Although he qualified for the Paris Olympics, he was almost prevented from participating due to the decision of his national Olympic committee. The Dutch Olympic Committee decided not to send him to the Olympics, judging that a top-ranking finish would be difficult anyway.

In response, Luiten expressed on SNS that he could not accept this decision and took legal action, ultimately regaining his eligibility to compete in the Olympics. Besides Luiten, the Netherlands secured Olympic golf spots for men’s player Darius van Driel and women’s players Dewi Weber and Anne van Dam, but considering competitiveness, they initially decided to send only van Dam.

Reuters reported that "it is unclear whether this ruling applies to van Driel and Weber as well." Luiten was born in 1986. He has won six times on the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour). The men's event will be held from August 1 for four days at Le Golf National near Paris, France (par 71, 7,249 yards). This venue has hosted the Open de France on the DP World Tour since 1991 and the Ryder Cup, a golf competition between the United States and Europe, in 2018. The competition format is a 4-round, 72-hole stroke play.

The Paris Olympics marks the third consecutive Olympic stage following Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020. Based on world rankings, the top two players from each country represent their nation at the Olympics. If there are two or more players ranked within the top 15 worldwide, up to four players can participate. South Korea will be represented by Kim Joo-hyung and An Byeong-hun.