By Sarah Gwynn, europeantour.com
at Pinehurst
It may seem surprising that Joost Luiten, a player ranked 42nd in the world, 12th in The Race to Dubai and on the fringe of the automatic qualifying places for the European Ryder Cup team, is making his US Open Championship debut this week.
The Dutchman has played in five Majors so far in his career, notably finishing tied 26th in this year’s Masters Tournament, but he will sample a US Open for the first time at Pinehurst Resort.
Luiten is one of 11 European Tour members making their debut in the event and arguably the most likely to contend over Pinehurst’s tricky No.2 course, given his recent form. Third place in last week’s Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity, where he defended the title, followed a fourth place finish in the Open de España, and the 28 year old is being widely tipped to make his Ryder Cup bow at Gleneagles in September.
“I’ve had a couple of good weeks,” said Luiten. “Last week I played really well and just came up one short, but my game is in great condition and I’m playing some solid golf, which is what you need on a course like this. Hopefully I can keep that form going and have another good week.
“It’s obviously my first time playing in the US Open and I’m looking forward to producing another good performance. I arrived on Monday night so I haven’t seen the course yet, but my caddie walked it and said it’s in fantastic condition and will be a very tough test. I don’t think the winning score will be many under par.
“You learn a lot from playing in the other Majors. I played in the Masters this year and that was a big learning curve. Augusta is not the same as this course, but it’s similar in terms of all the slopes on the greens, so I hope I can take that experience out on the course with me here.
“There are a lot of big weeks coming up with this one, the French Open, Scottish Open and The Open, so it would be nice to have a big result somewhere, but I’m just focusing on each tournament at a time.”
Germany’s Max Kieffer is another making his US Open debut, having qualified at Walton Heath a fortnight ago. The 23 year old enjoyed a fine rookie season on The European Tour last year, and is focusing on gaining as much experience as possible in North Carolina.
“It’s great to be here and I’m just trying to enjoy all the practice days as much as I can,” he said. “Obviously I think on Thursday I’m going to be a bit nervous, but it will be good fun.
“I arrived on Saturday night and played 18 holes on Sunday, 18 yesterday and nine today, so I’ve seen a lot of the course. I know where I want to hit the ball on each hole, so now it’s just about getting the speed of the greens.
“It’s a brilliant atmosphere and there’s a real buzz about the place. Yesterday I played with Martin (Kaymer) and I think there were more people watching us than you’d get if you were playing in the last group on a Sunday in a regular event.
“All the family are staying in a house just down the road so I’m just going to try to enjoy the week and play as well as I can.”
Austrian Bernd Wiesberger also makes his bow in the second Major of the year, having finished second last week to scrape in via the Official World Golf Ranking, while Victor Dubuisson, who burst onto the radar in America earlier this year by reaching the final of the WGC-Accenture World Match Play Championship, also makes his first appearance in a US Open.
Englishmen Oliver Fisher and Tom Lewis, Dane Lucas Bjerregaard, Italy’s Andrea Pavan, South African Garth Mulroy, Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal and India’s Shiv Kapur are the other European Tour members tasting a US Open Championship for the first time.
