Joost Luiten will be absent from the upcoming Paris Olympic Games. GETTY IMAGES

Joost Luiten won his legal fight in a Dutch court to participate in the Olympics, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday rejected his request to be added to the field for men’s golf at the Paris Games.

Antony Scanlan, the Executive Director of the International Golf Federation, noted on Tuesday afternoon that the Dutch court’s ruling only directed the Dutch Olympic Committee to place Luiten on the Olympic team.

“When they entered him, we already had moved forward with the process," Scanlan said. "What I had to do then was write to the IOC and ask for an exemption on the 60-player limit and allow 61 players."

He explained that the IOC, being outside the jurisdiction of Dutch courts, did not feel any obligation to add another player to the competition. Late Tuesday night, Luiten vented his frustration towards the IOC in an Instagram post, declaring that he could no longer take the Olympics seriously.

"They don't take the Dutch law as (their) jurisdiction and my spot in The Olympics had already been given away to somebody else because the @NOCNSF withdrew me early! Now they don’t want to give me my spot back!!!" he wrote. "I don’t see any fair play or respect from the IOC, so how can they say The Olympic games are built on those fundamentals?"

Joost Luiten won his legal battle in court, but won't be at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. GETTY IMAGES
Joost Luiten won his legal battle in court, but won't be at the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. GETTY IMAGES

The Dutch Olympic Committee decided against sending Luiten, Darius Van Driel, and Dewi Weber to the Paris Games, believing their world rankings were insufficient for a fair chance in the 60-player fields, while the IGF argued that players ranked outside the top 100 have won significant tournaments, pointing to Rory Sabbatini's silver and C.T. Pan's bronze medals at the Tokyo Olympics as examples.

After being barred from the Tokyo Olympics for similar reasons, Luiten took his case to a Dutch court last week, which ruled that Dutch Olympic officials had to include him, though this ruling did not extend to Van Driel and Weber. 

By then, the IGF had already submitted a list of 60 men's players, which included Joel Girrbach from Switzerland and Tapio Pulkkanen from Finland as alternates behind Luiten and Van Driel.

"The IGF was not a party to the legal action brought forth by Luiten in the Netherlands," the IGF said on Tuesday. "Nevertheless, in an effort to support Luiten, the IGF sought an exception from the IOC to increase the field size of the men’s Olympic golf competition from 60 to 61 competitors to include Luiten, however the request was denied by the IOC today."