“Golf being ruined by bureaucrats!?” – Fans react to Netherlands’ ‘embarrassing’ move to deny golfers from competing in Paris Olympics

The Dutch Olympic officials will not allow three players to compete in the upcoming Paris Olympics, citing that the players were not strong enough to compete in a field of the top 60 players.

The Paris Olympics will feature 60 golfers from around the world, with a maximum of two per country, or up to four if all are ranked within the top 15. However, Dutch officials have denied entry to their top golfers, stating that they would not be competitive enough in Paris.

Joost Luiten and Darius Van Driel, ranked World No. 148 and 242 respectively, are the two male players affected by the snub. Dewi Weber, World No. 302, has been snubbed from the women's team for the Paris Olympics.

Golf journalist Dan Rapaport termed the Dutch committee's decision as 'shameful'. He cited examples of Rory Sabbatini and CT Pan who won the Olympic medals despite being ranked low.

Fans online had mixed reactions to this decision but most of them were critical of the Dutch officials. Here's a look at some of the reactions:

"Golf being ruined by bureaucrats!? You don’t say!?"

"Dutch sports just embarrassing themselves left and right today"

"No one ever has had a positive thing to say about bureaucrats, ever. They spoil everything they touch" one fan opined.

"I disagree," this user came in support of the decision. "The Dutch Olympic Committee has clear rules for every athlete in any sport to participate in the Olympics. Other countries have trials and when an athlete coincidentally has bad luck during their trial he won’t be selected either. Like the 800m runner who fell."

"Apparently it's basically they can't think they can finish top 8 but that's an insane thing in golf to claim beforehand. I mean ffs we've seen Nelly Korda win 6 of 7 events then miss 3 cuts," this fan commented.

"So in all other sports do they only send athletes with a shot at winning?" one fan wrote.

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Men golfer's rankings explored for the Paris Olympics

Here are the male golfers who are ranked in the top 60 for the Paris Olympics:

1. Scottie Scheffler (USA)
2. Rory McIlroy (IRL)
3. Xander Schauffele (USA)
4. Ludvig Åberg (SWE)
5. Wyndham Clark (USA)
6. Viktor Hovland (NOR)
7. Collin Morikawa (USA)
8. Jon Rahm (ESP)
9. Matsuyama Hideki (JPN)
10. Tommy Fleetwood (GBR)
11. Matt Fitzpatrick (GBR)
12. Matthieu Pavon (FRA)
13. Sepp Straka (AUT)
14. Jason Day (AUS)
15. Kim Joo-hyung (Tom Kim) (KOR)
16. An Byeonghun (KOR)
17. Shane Lowry (IRL)
18. Nick Taylor (CAN)
19. Min Woo Lee (AUS)
20. Corey Connors (CAN)
21. Christiaan Bezuidenhout (RSA)
22. Stephan Jäger (GER)
23. Nicolai Højgaard (DEN)
24. Thomas Detry (BEL)
25. Emiliano Grillo (ARG)
26. Alex Noren (SWE)
27. Ryan Fox (NZL)
28. Erik van Rooyen (RSA)
29. Adrian Meronk (POL)
30. Victor Perez (FRA)
31. Nakajima Keita (JPN)
32. Thorbjørn Olesen (DEN)
33. Alejandro Tosti (ARG)
34. Joaquín Niemann (CHI)
35. Sami Valimaki (FIN)
36. Yu Chun-An (Kevin Yu) (TPE)
37. David Puig (ESP)
38. Matti Schmid (GER)
39. Pan Cheng-Tsung (C.T. Pan) (TPE)
40. Joost Luiten (NED)
41. Yuan Yechun (Carl Yuan) (CHN)
42. Camilo Villegas (COL)
43. Matteo Manassero (ITA)
44. Adrien Dumont de Chassart (BEL)
45. Daniel Hillier (NZL)
46. Cristóbal Del Solar (CHI)
47. Guido Migliozzi (ITA)
48. Shubshankar Sharma (IND)
49. Rafael Campos (PUR)
50. Darius van Driel (NED)
51. Carlos Ortiz (MEX)
52. Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA)
53. Gavin Green (MAS)
54. Gaganjeet Bhullar (IND)
55. Nico Echevarría (COL)
56. Kris Ventura (NOR)
57. Phachara Khongwatmai (THA)
58. Abraham Ancer (MEX)
59. Dou Zecheng (CHN)
60. Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)