There are some things I am always pretty certain about and Joost Luiten was one of them. The winning mentality was always fairly evident in the Dutchman’s approach to golf and I just had that feeling that this year would be the biggest of his fledgling career.
Joost’s victory in the Iskandar Johor Open saw him get over the line for the first time to put him within sight of another. Now with two tournaments to go before the pecking order is decided he could well break into the European Tour’s elite top 15. He’s only just outside it and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he gets his hands on a slice of that €7.5million bonus pool on offer at the end of the Race to Dubai.
Of equal importance is how quickly Joost has moved up the world rankings this year because now he’s 66th and within a couple more good weeks of that all-important top 50 and all the exemptions that brings.
Joost is just 25 and it won’t be long before he becomes Holland’s best ever... of that I’m also sure.
Gregory Bourdy also collected a top 10 in Malaysia while George Coetzee continued his climb with third at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in his native South Africa.
Meanwhile, I was in Australia to see Charl Schwartzel impress in the President’s Cup although Fred Couples’ USA team finally came out on top of Greg Norman’s Internationals.
I fully believe Charl will have plenty of fire power left for this week’s World Cup in China alongside his good friend Louis Oosthuizen. It should be another good week for our boys.
