Darius Arjen Joel van Driel (born 2 June 1989) is a Dutch professional golfer who plays on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

Amateur career

Born in

Leidschendam Leidschendam () is a town and former municipality in the province of South Holland of the Netherlands. Along with Voorburg and Stompwijk, it is part of the municipality Leidschendam-Voorburg. History The town's name has been in use for centur ...

, Netherlands, van Driel took up golf at the age of 11. His junior and amateur career, up to and including 2014, saw him win the Dutch National Strokeplay Championship under-19 (2007) and under-22 (2010). He also won the 2008 Dutch National Strokeplay Championship, which earned him entry to that year's KLM Dutch Open where he missed the cut (+11) but finished as second Dutch amateur player. He was selected as a member of the Dutch team for the

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...

in 2007 and 2010. Also during this period he took some time away from the game to complete a bachelor's degree in Economics and Sports Marketing at the Johan Cruyff Institute in Amsterdam. In 2013 he won the Dutch National Matchplay Championship. and in 2014, his last year as an amateur, he finished second at the

Lytham Trophy The Lytham Trophy is an amateur golf tournament founded in 1965 by the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, where it has always been held. It is a 72-hole scratch stroke play competition, and is classified as a Category A event by the World Amateu ...

and was again selected as a member of the Dutch team for the European Amateur Team Championship. He ended his amateur career by taking second place in the

qualifying school In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

for the 2015 season of the Alps Tour, one of the European third-tier professional tours.

Professional career

2015–2019

In 2015, his first year as a professional golfer, van Driel competed in the Alps Tour. With one victory, and five 2nd places he won the overall Alps Tour Order of Merit. and gained automatic entry to the 2016

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History T ...

. In 2016, van Driel finished 34th in the 2016 Challenge Tour Order of Merit ensuring his place in the 2017 Challenge Tour. He also represented the Netherlands, partnering

Joost Luiten Willibrordus Adrianus Maria "Joost" Luiten (born 7 January 1986) is a Dutch professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. Early life and amateur career Luiten was born in Bleiswijk and started playing golf at 6 years old at Golf Centrum ...

in the

2016 World Cup of Golf The 2016 World Cup of Golf (known as the 2016 ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf for sponsorship reasons) was a golf tournament played from 24–27 November at Kingston Heath Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia. It was the 58th World Cup. Twenty-eight ...

where they finished T17. In 2017, in a year hampered by a minor back problem, van Driel could only finish 91st in the final Challenge Tour rankings. In 2018, van Driel claimed the first Challenge Tour win by a Dutch golfer in 5 years, in the Euram Bank Open in Austria in July. and ended in 34th position in the year-end Challenge Tour rankings. 2019 was van Driel's fourth season on the Challenge Tour. He won the

Rolex Trophy The Rolex Trophy was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, that is played in Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Züri ...

and with six other top-10 finishes he ended 13th in the 2019 Order of Merit, earning direct promotion to the

2020 European Tour The 2020 European Tour was the 49th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972 and the 12th edition of the Race to Dubai. The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the season, with many tournaments being resche ...

in Category 14. He also played in four main tour events, with a best result of 2nd place in the

Belgian Knockout The Belgian Open (name owned by the Royal Belgian Golf Federation) is a men's golf tournament which has been played intermittently from 1910 to 2000. All editions since 1978 have been part of the European Tour. After not having been played since 20 ...

. In December he was voted Dutch Golfer of the year.

2020

In a European Tour season seriously disrupted by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, van Driel finished 157th in the Race to Dubai year end rankings.

2021

With the rankings from 2019 carried forward for an extra year because of the

, van Driel played his 2nd European Tour season in Category 14. With one 2nd place finish, in the Porsche European Open, 4th place in the Dutch Open and three other top-10 finishes, van Driel ended 97th in the Race to Dubai 2021 year end rankings., earning a full Tour card in Category 10 for 2022.

Amateur wins

*2007 Dutch National Under 18 Strokeplay Championship *2008 Dutch National Open Strokeplay Championship *2010 Dutch National Under 21 Strokeplay Championship *2013 Dutch National Matchplay Championship, Dutch National Foursomes Championship (with Bernard Geelkerken) Source:

Professional wins (6)

Challenge Tour wins (2)

Alps Tour wins (1)

Other wins (3)

*2015 Dutch National Strokeplay Championship *2016 Duinzicht Invitational *2018 Duinzicht Invitational

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing the Netherlands): 2007, 2010,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

St Andrews Trophy The St Andrews Trophy is a biennial men's team golf tournament contested between teams of amateur golfers representing Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It takes its name from St Andrews in Scotland. It was first played in 1 ...

(representing the Continent of Europe): 2014 Professional *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing the Netherlands):

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Driel, Darius van Dutch male golfers European Tour golfers People from Leidschendam Sportspeople from The Hague 1989 births Living people 21st-century Dutch people