Joost Luiten insists he thrives on the pressure to perform in front of a home audience as he once again prepares to fly the flag for the Netherlands at the KLM Open.
The 39-year-old has been the leading face of Dutch golf for over a decade and his love affair with his national open stretches right back to a runner-up finish in 2007.
Since then he has lifted the trophy twice with three other top tens and joins Darius van Driel as the only Dutch players in the field with a DP World Tour win on their CV.
That brings with it the weight of expectation at The International but Luiten is inspired, not daunted by the spotlight.
“It’s always a special week so I always look forward to it,” he said.
“I’ve done well in the past, I’ve won it twice so the people always expect me to win it for the third time and that’s the challenge for me, to try and do it.
“I always look forward to it and I like the challenge of it.
“I love it, normally it’s quite busy and I expect it to be busy because we’re close to Amsterdam. It’s a big city with a lot of people and hopefully they come out and watch and the weather is good.
“I have to hit that golf ball anyway so I'd rather have people coming to watch and be interested in golf than be there on my own.
“I always try to stay in my own bubble when it is busy but it’s always great to see the people out.”
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After the shock of losing his card in 2022, Luiten bounced back to finish 26th on the Race to Dubai Rankings while playing on a career-money exemption and has resumed his position as one of the most consistent performers on Tour.
That has included two top fives in his last six starts and Luiten believes he can challenge for DP World Tour title number seven this week if he sticks to his own game.
“The game is pretty good: I played well in Türkiye, finished fifth there, a good finish in India with third place,” he said. “If I can play my own game which is a lot of fairways and a lot of greens then I hope to be up there on Sunday.
“If it’s windy with a chance of rain it’s going to be a very tricky week, it’s a very tricky golf course.
“You’ve got to control the flight of the golf ball in this wind. There’s some very long par fours which are going to be tricky to reach in two so I think it will be a ball strikers golf course and the guy that can control the golf ball the best and stay in position the most is probably going to do really well.”
