‘I think people should stop whining about Dutch Top Golf. We have four regulars on tour and six make the cut here, which I think is not bad. “But the two-time KLM Open winner can count on a huge ovation at the closing hole,” said Joost Luyden after he left the track after the KLM Open. “Yeah, I don’t understand that either,” Luyton laughed. “Even if I don’t play well…”
Luyden opened the KLM Open well with a 67 (-5), but couldn’t make a fist of the three days that followed: 72, 72 and finally 73. The Dutch number 1 couldn’t make a difference, especially on the greens.
“The hole just seemed to get smaller and smaller,” Luyden said, summarizing the effort for the hole putts. “My stroke is not good. I worked on it yesterday and this morning, but I couldn’t get the ball into the hole. Then you have to be patient, but when you have a few rounds like that, it’s tough and above all frustrating, Luyden said of the game that eventually earned him 21st place.
That doesn’t make him a better Dutchman. That honor was reserved for Rovin Caron, who even flirted with the race lead. After an excellent first nine, and a birdie on the par-4 tenth, he was just one stroke behind the leader of the field, but thanks to a very difficult second nine, he eventually had to settle for eighth.
“It’s a shame I missed some putts on the back nine, but I think I can definitely be satisfied with this result. The first nine was good, it actually went very easy. Maybe I haven’t had the results I wanted lately, but my game has been good and I felt it was very close. . Then suddenly something clicks this week and you get on with it.’
That ‘more’ is very real to Caron. Caron, who plays a minor card on the Korn Ferry Tour in the US, finished in the top 10 and therefore qualified for the next tournament on the DP World Tour. This is something I thought about earlier in the week. I don’t know if I wanted to make that birdie at eighteen for that, it’s good that it fell. It’s a nice bonus,’ said Caron, who collected almost forty thousand euros with his shared eighth place.
Lars von Meijel was not much inferior to his contemporaries. The Challenge Tour player had a solid week of play, eventually finishing his best ranking of sixteenth at the KLM Open.
“I’m definitely satisfied with the result. I got in a few birdies on the back nine and then you get up straight away.
Dan Huising was also a satisfied man, perhaps not necessarily because of the result (T29), but more because he was able to play pain-free after struggling with his health for over a month and a half.
‘You could say you’ve been on the sidelines for a while, but I think I can be very happy with this. This result is also good if you want to cut first and then appear on the track without rhythm. Hopefully I can build on this next week’, he immediately looked ahead to the tournament in Germany.
Vince van Veen (d70) and Johannes Weermann (76th) finished in the standings.
The Dutchman also bagged the top prize for the best amateur player. Lars van der Wykt finished the tournament in joint 55th place, but more than that ranking, the top amateur recognized that the experience was worth its weight in gold on his way to a professional career.
‘Next year I hope to be an amateur here, but after that I will definitely be a pro. It’s great to experience this and be able to participate for four days, but most of all very educational.
