Joost Luiten

[Silent]

'I just have to stay patient' [quote]I played well today in the third round of the RBC Heritage. My drives were good and I hit my irons close to the hole for birdie. On holes 1, 5, 7, 9 and 11 I've all hit my shots within three feet of the hole. Unfortunately I miss a short one on hole two for birdie, that was a shame. But the eight hole made a mess of a possible good score. I pushed my drive a little to far to the right, the ball hits a tree, bounces 35 yards to the right of one of the branches and goes out of bounds. Triple bogey. Just a bit unlucky that the ball didn't fall down or bounced left when it hit the tree. Besides that hole I can't really complain. My game feels good and both my drives and irons were just fine. Right now, I just have to stay patient. My game feels better every day, so one of these rounds I should be able to post a low round.[/quote]

[Silent]

Luiten shot 7 birdies today, but like previous rounds he couldn't keep the bogeys off his card. Score of today was -3, getting him a -6 score total and just in or around, depending on other scores, the top 30.

It was good to see him play in the weekend again, and shooting as many birdies as he did. None of his rounds were above par. Just a bit too many mistakes to be in contention for a really good position. Game seems to get better and better though so confident for the next tournaments.

Next: WGC Matchplay and The Players.

[Silent]

Luiten: '23 birdies, but too many mistakes' [quote]I started the final round of the RBC Heritage with two birdies and I finished the round with two birdies. In the whole week I made 23 birdies, which is really good. Unfortunately I made also to many mistakes, especially with the driver and the log irons. In the end I had to settle for 31st place. Not what I hoped for, but it was positive to make the cut after three missed cuts in a row. I was very pleased with the putting. After I missed the cut in The Masters, I worked really hard with my putt-coach Rob Mouwen and that paid off. I take not as much time on the greens and that also means less time for doubt in my head. I made a lot of good putts, the 23 birdies are proof of that. The RBC Heritage is a great tournament, and the course suits my eye. I hope to play many more times at Harbour Town Links in the future. My swing coach Phil Allen flew in today from Holland. The next three days we are going to work hard on my game. My next tournament will be the World Golf Championship in San Fransisco. Another great tournament and with the putter working again I'm really looking forward playing in San Fransisco because I love Matchplay, [/quote]

[Silent]

Good draw for Luiten at the WGC - Matchplay (even though at this level no easy matches obviously)

H. Matsuyama (16)
Kevin Na (20)
Joost Luiten (43)
Alexander Levy (52)

[Silent]

Luiten has a tremendous Match Play record`. At the Seve Trophy in 2013 he was the best deput player in European history winning all his matches untill the last day. At the EurAsia Cup last year he won paired with Dubuisson, and at the singles matches he and Jimenez were the only Euro players to win their match. At the Volvo World Match Play Championship a couple of months ago he gained a 3rd place, including an impressive win against McDowell.

Despite this good record, at the WGC Matchplay last year he lost his opening match, as a result his record in this tournament is 0-1. Regarding his group: he has experience beating Levy in Match Play (he did so last year; 4&3). Kevin Na is a very good player obviously, and Matsuyama is quite high in the ranking regarding bogey avoidence. It's going to be interesting, and hopefully this type of game brings the best for Luiten.

[tomvk77]

The last tournament with 23 birdies will help in matchplay situations, double bogeys and triple bogeys only cost him 1 hole. he well gain more with the birdies. Hope he will get there with his game.

looks like he put a lot off work into short game and putting.

[Crim]

The last tournament with 23 birdies will help in matchplay situations, double bogeys and triple bogeys only cost him 1 hole. he well gain more with the birdies. Hope he will get there with his game.

looks like he put a lot off work into short game and putting.

This....Luiten is perfect for match play because he occasionally blows up holes...but can still be a birdie machine. Should be fun to watch.

[saevel25]

This....Luiten is perfect for match play because he occasionally blows up holes...but can still be a birdie machine. Should be fun to watch.

I would say a person who gets a lot of birdies and a couple blow up holes would have an advantage over a guy who is a par machine. Again Tiger was probably the best match play golfer ever and he was more consistent in terms of making about 4-6 birdies with very few blow up holes. So I think just being a good golfer is better than being a streaky golfer.

In the end, if you end up like Poulter who can shoot a 75-78 sometimes, if that shows up he's toast. I think this is were a tournament format makes it tough because he might get hot one day, then get blown out the next.

[Silent]

Interesting discussion. If Luiten manages to make as many birdies as he did at the RBC Heritage (I read somewhere in a comment most of the field, not sure if that's true?) he can beat anyone I guess. He loves Match Play and proved to be good at it. I see a lot of expert picks for Matsyama (to win the tournament) and feel like a lot of them are unaware of the Match Play record Joost is holding. An article on Golfchannel even said if the final would be Luiten vs. xxx it's prove that this new system is not working (?!) Hopefully he can prove them wrong.

His schedule:

RD. 1 (WED.)
Na vs. Luiten

RD. 2 (THUR.)
Matsuyama vs. Luiten

RD. 3 (FRI.)
Luiten vs. Levy

Unfort. I won't see a lot of it and can't follow the scores on Wednesday and Friday. Tee time is at midnight here...

[Silent]

Luiten wins the first match against Na. Was close, 2 down after 16 but managed to win holes 17, 18 and 19. Today against Matsuyama who also won his first match.

[Silent]

Luiten: 'Close call'

Quote:

Today I played my fist match in the Cadillac Matchplay, the third World Golf Championship of the year. It's a bit different from other years because you first play three group matches, before the round-robin starts. Only the group winner makes it to the round-robin fase, so every match is very important.

I played the first game against Kevin Na and it wasn't easy. I didn't play my best golf but I did manage to go 1 up, because Kevin made a bogey on the fourth. After that the score stayed the same until the tenth hole.

On the tenth I missed my drive and could only make bogey from the left rough. Na made his par and so it was all square again. On twelve I thought I might go back to 1 up when I pitched in from 50 yards. Unfortunately Kevin holed a putt from 15 feet to match my birdie and halve the hole.

On the fourteenth I missed the fairway and couldn't reach the green. A bad bunker shot meant a double bogey and loss of the hole to go 1 down. One hole later I missed a short birdie putt to level the score and on sixteen Na made a good birdie, and I didn't. Two down with only two to go.

I wasn't planning on losing so I kept believing it was still possible to win this match. When Kevin made a mistake on the seventeenth that meant I could get it back to only one down. On the last hole I holed a tricky ten feet downhill slider to stay in the match and go into overtime.

After a good drive on the first extra hole I hit my approach in the greenside bunker. I hit my bunkershot to 15 feet, but missed the putt. Kevin missed the fairway on his drive and had a six feet putt to stay in the match. Fortunately for me, he missed the putt and I won the match 1 up.

It was a close call today, but I kept believing I could win the match and I holed a couple of good putts in the end to do so. I do have to step up my game for tomorrow!

[tomvk77]

Great win by Joost, it again shows you have won the match after the last putt is made.

Seems like Na thought he had won after holing the birdie on 16.

Interesting to see how Joost develops after this win, it sure is a huge confident builder

to win a match this way.

[Silent]

2up after three holes, great start from Luiten against Matsuyama. Still a long way ahead ofcourse, but the start is promising.

[RJH999]

2up through 11 for Mr. Super Joost.

[Silent]

Losing 2 holes in a row brings the match back to all square, 3 holes left to play. Unnessesary, missed some good chances to go to 3up. Now everything is possible.

[Silent]

Being 2up with just 5 holes left to play and with getting a number of chances to go to 3up or more, Luiten seemed to qualify for the next round already since Na was also up in his match. But as we saw many times before (and Luiten proved it also against Na), especially in Matchplay it isn't over till it's over: On the last 5 holes Matsuyama shot 3 birdies and an eagle and won the game. Great finish from him, leaving Luiten disappointed about not finishing the game earlier on.

Still chances to go to the next round: winning from Levy while Na beats Matsuyama and we'll have a three man play-off.

[Silent]

Luiten: 'I should have closed it'

Quote:

In my match against Hideki Matsuyama I went 2 up after three holes. I managed to keep that advantage and on hole 13 I had a great opportunity to go 3 up. Unfortunately I missed a short putt there for birdie and the win of the hole. In hindsight that was an important moment. I gave Hideki some breathing space and I must admit that the way he fought his way back in the match was impressive. Birdies on 14, 15 and 16 and an eagle on 18 was really good. But I must admit that I left the last green with the feeling that I should have won that match. I still have a change to reach the last 16. I need to win my last match against Alexander Levy and then I must hope that Kevin Na beats Matsuyama. If that scenario unfolds there will be a play-off between Na, Matsuyama and myself. Who knows, but first I will try everything to win my last match.

[tomvk77]

again some good stuff tee to green but didn't make the putts at the right moment.

lets hope for the best