27 June 2024 , 00:00
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Dutch golf stars have blasted their country's Olympic Committee after missing out on the Paris Games.
Much like US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, multiple male players from the Netherlands will be watching the upcoming tournament from the sidelines. Unlike the American star, though, the players in question had been eligible for selection.
After a controversial change to the selection criteria, the Dutch Committee have opted not to send any male golfers to the Games because they think medals are unrealistic. The decision spells disappointment for Joost Luiten, a six-time DP Tour winner, Darius van Driel and Dewi Weber. The Netherlands will only be represented in the women's competition by Solheim Cup star Anne van Dam.
Luiten expressed his anger at the decision through a strongly-worded Instagram post on Wednesday. He fumed: "@nocnsf [Dutch Olympic Committee] will not send me even though I have qualified by the international golf federation's criteria and the Olympic criteria.
"Nocnsf have their own criteria (good chance to finish top eight) and they don't think I have a chance to finish in the top eight of the Olympics (60men field) even though over my 18 year professional career I have finished inside of the top 10 almost 20% of the time and those were 156 man fields.
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"This was 25% in the 2023 season. It's just mindblowing that they say I cannot finish top eight at the @olympics, @nocnsf have absolutely no clue about golf. Also they have changed the criteria in Dec 2023.
"If they had those criteria from the start in June 2023, I would have qualified at two separate events. That's even more painful to me! I just don't get it! Typically Holland, they only understand the typical Dutch sports, clearly not golf. So sad and painful."
Van Driel, another DP Tour winner, also waded in, blasting on Instagram: "No Olympics for Joost Luiten, Dewi Weber and myself although we qualified. The @nocnsf doesn't have a clue about golf and it's a shame we're suffering now.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Are the Dutch players right to speak out? Tell us in the comments section.
Bryson DeChambeau just missed out on the upcoming Olympics (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)"We're not going because of political reasons. Mistakes were made by the nederlandse.golf.federatie for agreeing with the absurd demands on national qualifications. A sad day for Dutch golf. Shame on you."
The circumstances surrounding DeChambeau's absence are different, although no less controversial in the eyes of some fans. As a LIV Golf player, the 30-year-old can only pick up ranking points via the majors.
And despite his dramatic recent success at Pinehurst, where he took advantage of Rory McIlroy's late collapse, he couldn't quite do enough to be on the plane to France. The US team will feature world No.1 Scottie Scheffler, world No. 3 Xander Schauffele, world No.5 Wyndham Clark and world No. 7 Collin Morikawa. DeChambeau was sixth in the list of Americans behind Patrick Cantlay in fifth.