Joost Luiten

Joost Luiten (born 7 January, 1986) is a Dutch professional golfer.

Luiten was born in Bleiswijk. He is currently a member of the European Tour. After a failed bid for a tour card on the Qualifying School he started his professional career on the EPD Tour where he claimed the second place twice in just four starts. Because he was not in possession of a tour card Luiten was solely depending on invites to play on the Challenge Tour.He received one for the Tusker Kenya Open where he birdied the 72th hole for a shared tenth place, this was exactly enough to earn himself a start in the next tournament where he finished third. On his way to show how to make perfect use of a single invite Luiten went on to win in France, his third start of the season. In his first six events of 2007, he won two of them. On his way to winning the Vodafone Challenge he shot a 61 (-11) in the final round, the lowest final round total by a tournament winner.

After finishing sixth on the 2007 Challenge Tour rankings he received a European Tour card for 2008 and has claimed two top 10 spots so far this season.

Luiten was a member of the 2006 Dutch team that won the Eisenhower Trophy after he played his last five holes in six under par.

Luiten finished second at the KLM Open, a European Tour event, in 2007 and is currently the highest ranked Dutch golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings. In January 2008 he reached the top 100 in the rankings.

Amateur wins (4)

*2004 Dutch Boys Championship, Dutch Youths Championship
*2005 Spanish Amateur Open Championship, German Amateur Open Championship

Professional wins (2)

Challenge Tour wins (2)

*2007 A.G.F. Allianz Golf Open de Toulouse, Vodafone Challenge

Team appearances

Amateur

*Eisenhower Trophy (representing the Netherlands): 2006 (winners)
*Bonallack Cup: 2006 (winners)

External links

* [http://www.europeantour.com/publish.sps?pageid=127&pagegid=%7B20E6AA6B%2D0225%2D4C71%2DBD89%2D2ACBEE615D69%7D&playerId=34085 Profile on the European Tour's official site]