Joost Luiten

The 36-year-old Luiten last teed it up at the Soudal Open, where he carded back-to-back rounds of 72 and missed the cut. He’ll aim to draw on past success at his national open, which he’s won twice – in 2013 and 2015 – and has four other top 10s including a solo second in 2007. He’s missed the cut seven times in the event, though, including last year after shooting 72-72. On the season, Luiten has made four cuts in 10 starts with one top 10 – a T-10 at the Steyn City Championship in March. This year marks the first time the Dutch Open is part of The Open Qualifying Series for 2022. The tournament will offer three places in The 150th Open at St. Andrews for the leading three players (not otherwise exempt) finishing in the top 10 and ties. The Dutch Open also is the third stop in the four-event European Qualifying Series, with players battling for 10 available spots for the U.S. Open.

The Dutchman went 17-for-24 this season on the DP World Tour but landed just two top 10s. He settled for 89th in the Race to Dubai, his lowest rank since 2009 when he made just six starts and finished outside of the top 200. He also finds himself at the lowest point in the OWGR (286th) since 2010 when he first broke onto the scene. Luiten still managed to rank 46th off-the-tee, 39th on approach, and 30th in putting. He was bleeding back 0.31 strokes per round from an around-the-green perspective. There are plenty of positives to take out of 2021 despite the ho-hum results. Gamers shouldn't count him out just yet and shouldn't be surprised if he plays his way back into contention a few times in the upcoming season.

The 35-year-old Netherlands native won the event in 2013 and 2016, and regularly practices at Bernardus Golf, site of this year’s tournament. "I hope it will feel like coming home to a new course this year," said Luiten, who finished T-10 in 2019. "I want to perform again, give some extras for the home crowd that can be present at tournaments again." In 14 event appearances, he’s made eight cuts with the two wins and four other tops 10s, including runner-up in 2007. On the season, the six-time ET winner has made 15 cuts in 18 starts with two top 10s and he’s riding a streak of three straight finishes inside the top 35: He finished T-12 at the Czech Masters, T-18 at the Italian Open and T-35 at last week’s BMW PGA, where he birdied four of his last eight holes at Wentworth to finish with a 4-under 68.

Last week in Vienna, Luiten shot 71-70-69-72 to finish 6 under and just out of the top 10. The six-time European Tour winner hasn’t had a victory since the 2018 Oman Open, but he’s made the cut in six of seven starts this season and posted one top-10 finish – a T-7 at the Kenya Savannah Classic. He had a similar start in 2020, where he made the cut in his first seven starts and notched two top-10s, but then made just 9-of-15 with one top 10 the rest of the way. The 35-year-old Dutchman teed it up the PGA Championship in August at Harding Park and finished T-51. The 15-year veteran captured two wins (Lyoness Open, KLM Open) in 2013 en route to a career-best 11th place finish in the Race to Dubai rankings. He notched another victory in 2014 at the Wales Open and then found success again at the 2016 KLM Open for his fifth title.