Defending champion and Dutch hero Joost Luiten will look to put the disappointment of missing out on the Ryder Cup behind him in the KLM Open this week.

Luiten was one of the contenders for a wild card for Gleneagles, with European captain Paul McGinley impressed by his performance in the EurAsia Cup earlier this year.

However, the 28-year-old was unable to reproduce his best form in the latter stages of the qualifying campaign and McGinley opted for Stephen Gallacher, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.

Luiten has now turned his attention to defending his national open at Kennemer Golf Club.

“It’s very special to be here in Holland and defending your own tournament,” said Luiten.

“I came back here after last year to do a little bit for TV which was very emotional, so it was good to get that out of the way for this week and hopefully I can show the people again what I did last year.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult for me because the expectations of all the people are so high. It’s difficult but that’s what you have to deal with.”

Thomas Bjorn is the only member of Europe’s Ryder Cup team competing in Zandvoort and he is also scheduled to make it three events in succession before Gleneagles in next week’s Wales Open.

The 43-year-old said: “It’s brilliant. You go through the qualifying process and there is so much going on in your head. You obviously try to put it at a distance. 

“It’s a mentally tough time because the last few events of qualifying are big events. It’s draining so you have to come down and build yourself up to the level again. I’m using these weeks to get myself ready and hopefully in the process of that, I can play some decent stuff.

“There’s always a balance of how you do that. Some guys take the time off and go in fresh. I like to be on a run of tournaments and I normally play well on the back end of it.

“The danger is if you don’t play well, you can play yourself out of confidence. It is there at the moment, but I’m just trying to get in there with a chance to win tournaments and have that confidence going into the Ryder Cup.”