After qualifying for Olympics, golfers are snubbed. The explanation is baffling
Joost luiten olympics

Joost Luiten is among the Dutch golfers who will not be competing at the Olympics next month.

Getty Images

It may not seem possible that the 148th-ranked pole vaulter in the world could miraculously summon what’s needed to be the best vaulter on the planet during a given week. Or that the 302nd-ranked female hurdler could suddenly become one of the 10 best at clearing barriers at a full sprint. The farther down the rankings you go, there seem to be obvious physical limitations.

The Olympics, as an entity, knows that. But it still sets up literal standards for each track and field competition that, if matched during an official World Athletics competition, earn athletes a trip to the Olympics. The dream is perpetually alive. And when you see the 242nd-ranked discuss thrower routinely coming up 12 meters short, you understand why these qualification marks are set.

But golf is different. The Olympics knows that, too.

Golf is different on every course in every country on any day all over the globe. Over four days, one of the 30 best golfers in the world tends to win. But sometimes — quite often, really — they scrape and claw to be just one stroke better than a player you weren’t expecting would contend.

Which makes it such a shame that the Netherlands Olympic Committee misunderstands that. Thanks to an initial report from Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, it has become clear that only one Dutch golfer will represent the country in the Paris Olympics — Anne van Dam — eve though four qualified. Joost Luiten (ranked 148th), Darius van Driel (242nd) and Dewi Weber (302nd) were all informed that, despite meeting the marks set by the International Olympic Committee, their own national committee is declining to send them to France as representatives of the Dutch Olympic team.

Since golf rejoined the Olympics in 2016, the National Olympic Committee of the Netherlands Sports Federation has — unlike other NOCs — blanketed its approach with an extra set of qualifying rules. Being the best golfer from the Netherlands is not enough — you have to either be ranked in the top 100 in the world, or prove it by earning a high finish in a sanctioned tournament in the run up to the Games. Without that, the Netherlands Olympic Committee believes a player doesn’t display a realistic chance of finishing in the top 8 and contending for a medal. Van Dam was the only one of the four Dutch qualifiers to make that happen, when she finished second late last season on the Ladies European Tour.

Understandably, the players are upset. Weber aired her grievances to Golf Digest, while Luiten sounded off on social media (below) and van Driel to Bunkered.com, calling the snub “political,” from a director who doesn’t understand golf. The Royal Dutch Golf Federation tried taking action, even meeting with the NOC earlier this month, presenting figures about what makes golf competitions different from other sports and offering to pay for the costs of the trip. But the federation’s bid, with Luiten campaigning in person, was denied because, “no reasonable chance of a top 8 ranking in the Olympic Games has been demonstrated.”