Joost Luiten satisfied with his finish at The Irish Open – Golf News
Despite faltering in the final round of The Irish Open, Joost Luiten insisted that he was pleased with his overall performance and another top-10 finish of the season.
Luiten had been enjoying a great run of form for the last few weeks, having recorded top-11 finishes in each of his last three starts on the European Tour, including a victory in the Lyoness Open powered by Greenfinity.
Entering the final round at the Carton House Golf Club on Sunday, he was once again leading the field with two-strokes and was a hot favourite for a victory in the event.
However, he failed to hold on to his nerves and faltered for a two-over par 74, which dragged him down to the share of the second position on the leaderboard.
Starting his final-round campaign two strokes ahead of Pablo Larrazábal, he parred each of the first and last four holes on the front nine, with a bogey sandwiched in-between.
The back nine of the course witnessed him losing another two strokes on 12th and the 16th hole, before his only birdie of the came on the 18th hole.
Paul Casey, in the meantime, surged well past him on the leaderboard, after carding a stunning five-under par 67, to finish the day three strokes ahead of him.
Yet, Luiten said that he had no regrets because losing is a part of game and every player should accept it.
“All in all, a good week,” he said. “Second place is always good, but if you go in the last round as the leader, you want to have more, but sometimes you can't.”
Robert Rock, who shared the second position with Luiten, was also pleased with his overall performance in the tournament.
“It's as good as I've done in a while,” he said. “When you're that close, you want to win, but Paul played the better golf around the important part of the day where the rain came down. There were some shots I should have played
better; things to work on.”
He now plans to keep the momentum going into the upcoming events, in a bid to charge for the third European Tour title victory of his career.
Tags: