Luiten banks on home support for treble bid Golf:

Defending champion is going for third KLM Open title

Defending champion Joost Luiten is banking on home support to help him overcome bad weather and a cold game as he looks to win a third KLM Open title this week.

He equalled the course record with a closing 63 at The Dutch, Spijek, Groningen, last year to win his home event for the second time in four years and claim a fifth European Tour title.

That helped the 31-yearold finish the year just outside the world’s top 50 but he has slipped to 94th in the rankings after recording just one top-10 finish in 18 events in 2017.

“It’s always good to be playing at home,” said Luiten. “We only get to do it once a year, so it’s always a week where I know I am going to be really busy but also a week that I should enjoy as much as possible.

“The final round last year was one of those days that you dream about. To play so well and then give myself a chance on the back nine, then to actually win the tournament was an amazing feeling and a very special day.

“Everything went right. I holed everything, played well, got some lucky breaks and I won by three shots.

“The start to my (2017) season was good. I started really solidly but the game has gone a little bit cold over the past couple of months.

“I played better in Switzerland last week (finishing tied 30th) and I am starting to see improvement in my game.

“It’s going to be a lot tougher this year from a scoring perspective. I made it to 19 under last year but conditions were perfect and we are not going to have it so easy this year.

“If the wind keeps blowing and we get the rain which is forecast then I think six or seven under will have a great chance to win.”

Such conditions could play into the hands of the likes of three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, although the 46-year-old Dubliner may have typically complicated matters since his last start in the Wyndham championship in August.

“Last time I played in these kind of winds was the Scottish Open where I got blown off the course on the Saturday,” said Har- rington, who rebounded from a third round of 79 with a closing 66 to finish fourth at Dundonald Links.

“Hopefully, I can survive a bit better this week as we are due to get a lot of wind, so it’s going to be a battle. Obviously, I am well equipped to handle that but you need to get the little breaks here and there to help you handle conditions like that. I have to admit that I’m a little bit rusty as I haven’t played for three weeks and then, as you know with me, I have spent those three weeks hitting a lot of balls and now I have got too much going on in my head, so I need to calm that down before we get going on Thursday.”

Aberdeen’s Richie Ram- say, Grantown’s Duncan Stewart, Marc Warren, Scott Jamieson, Scott Henry ande Craig Lee are the Scots in action this week.

“Everything went right. I holed everything, played well”

IN THE SWING: Lexi Thompson in action during yesterday’s Evian Masters pro-am