Darius Arjen Joel van Driel (born 2 June 1989) is a Dutch

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who plays on the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

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 centurie ...

, 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 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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 Johan Cruyff Institute is an educational institution, founded by Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, aimed at educating athletes, sport and business professionals in the field of sport management. History The academic institution was founded in 1999 ...

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 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, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

. 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 c ...

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 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 the European Tour, the main professional golf tour in Europe since its inaugural season in 1972. Planned changes for 2020 Rule changes In order to combat slow play, from the Abu Dhabi HSBC Champio ...

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 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 2000, it returned in 2018 as the Belgian Knockout, h ...

. 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, 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 (7)

European Tour wins (1)

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

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 *

European Boys' Team Championship The European Boys' Team Championship (Jean-Louis Dupont Trophy) is a European amateur team golf championship for men up to 18 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1980 and it has been played annually since. S ...

(representing the Netherlands): 2007 *

(representing the Netherlands):

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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 19 ...

(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 name is ...