Joost Luiten

Willibrordus Adrianus Maria "Joost" Luiten (born 7 January 1986) is a Dutch professional golfer who plays on the European Tour.

Early life and amateur career
Luiten was born in Bleiswijk and started playing golf at 6 years old at Golf Centrum Rotterdam. As an amateur, he won the 2005 Spanish Amateur Open Championship and German Amateur Open Championship.

He represented his country at the 2004 European Boys' Team Championship and was selected for the 2006 Palmer Cup. 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.

Professional career
After a failed bid for a European Tour card at Qualifying School in late 2006, he started his professional career on the EPD Tour where he claimed second place twice in just four starts.

Reaching the final stage of Q School gave him limited status on the Challenge Tour for 2007; he made his first start at the Tusker Kenya Open, where he birdied the 72nd hole for a share of tenth place. This was enough to earn himself a start in the next tournament, where he finished third. In his third start, he won the A.G.F. Allianz Golf Open de Toulouse. A month later he won the Vodafone Challenge, setting a record for lowest final round by a Challenge Tour winner with a 61 (−11). He went on to finish sixth in the 2007 Challenge Tour rankings and receive a European Tour card for 2008, in addition to finishing second at the European Tour's KLM Open in August 2007.

In January 2008 he reached the top 100 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. He claimed two top-10 finishes on the European Tour before a wrist injury curtailed his season. He returned from injury in late 2009 and played the start of the 2010 season on a minor medical exemption, securing his card for the rest of 2010 with a top-ten finish at the Joburg Open. He finished the season 28th on the Race to Dubai, aided by a late run of three straight top-five finishes.

In November 2011, Luiten won his first tournament on the European Tour with a victory in the Iskandar Johor Open in Malaysia, which also gave him his highest world ranking position to that point, at 66. He finished in the top 30 of the Race to Dubai for the second consecutive year, ranked 24th.

Luiten won for the second time on the European Tour in June 2013 at the Lyoness Open in Austria. He took a three stroke advantage into the final round and shot a one-under-par 71 to finish two ahead of Thomas Bjørn. He became only the second player from the Netherlands to record multiple European Tour victories, after Robert-Jan Derksen.

In 2014, Luiten won the Wales Open and finished third at the Volvo Golf Champions, sixth at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, fourth at the Open de España, third at the Lyoness Open and third at the Volvo World Match Play Championship. By 24 November, he reached 28th in the Official World Golf Ranking, a high point so far. He also played in the United States, finishing 13th at the WGC-Cadillac Championship and 26th at the Masters Tournament and PGA Championship.

In the first half of 2016 Luiten collected eight top-10 finishes in 15 events, with second places in consecutive weeks at the Open de España and Shenzhen International. In August he represented Netherlands at the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing tied for the 27th place. The following month, he went on to win for the second time the KLM Open, matching the course record with an 8-under par 63 on the final round.

Amateur wins

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

European Tour wins (6)
 * Note: The 2011 Iskandar Johor Open was shortened to 54 holes due to weather. 1Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

Results in major championships
Results not in chronological order in 2020.

{{legend|#eeeeee|Did not play}} CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" = tied for place NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Summary

 * Most consecutive cuts made – 3 (2011 Open Championship – 2012 PGA)
 * Longest streak of top-10s – 0

Results in The Players Championship
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships
Results not in chronological order before 2015. {{legend|yellow|Top 10}} {{legend|#eeeeee|Did not play}} QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play "T" = tied

Team appearances
Amateur
 * European Boys' Team Championship (representing the Netherlands): 2004
 * European Amateur Team Championship (representing the Netherlands): 2005
 * European Youths' Team Championship (representing the Netherlands): 2006
 * Bonallack Trophy (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)
 * Eisenhower Trophy (representing the Netherlands): 2006 (winners)
 * Palmer Cup (representing Europe): 2006 (winners)

Professional
 * World Cup (representing the Netherlands): 2011, 2016, 2018
 * Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 2013 (winners)
 * EurAsia Cup (representing Europe): 2014 (shared)