Ruud Gullit takes on “mood management” KLM Open as tournament director
Ruud Gullit is this year’s tournament director of the KLM Open, alongside Daan Slooter, who holds the role of sporting tournament director. The tournament will be played in Gullit’s city, Amsterdam. The former top footballer has been crazy about golf for years and at The International lovingly performs the role of director of “atmosphere management”, as he himself describes it.
Ruud Gullit – tournament director KLM Open 2025
So during the KLM Open, you will be able to meet Gullit at The International every day. The smile on his face will betray that he is enjoying himself. One of the Netherlands’ best ever footballers is proud to have been asked for this role and proud that his city of Amsterdam is hosting ‘one of the oldest and most respected tournaments on DP World Tour’.
Mood management
“The KLM Open is a wonderful event that brings together top sport and experience. And to be able to do this in the year in which my city celebrates its 750th anniversary makes it extra special,” Gullit said.
So what exactly will he be doing? As tournament director, he will put the KLM Open with all its beautiful facets in the limelight like a true ambassador. ‘I see myself as a kind of director of atmosphere management,’ he wittily described his task during the press presentation at The International last week.
Fascinating
That task takes little effort on his part, as Gullit is a golf enthusiast pur sang. On several occasions, he has been allowed to wax lyrical on major platforms about golf and how he has become fascinated by it.
For 15 years, Gullit has been invited to play in the Pro-Am at Dunhill Links in Scotland, another leading and annual tournament of the DP World Tour. On Humberto’s talk show last year, he couldn’t stop talking about it. “I can really enjoy the top players. How they can hit a ball exactly where they want it, that’s fascinating.”
Ruud Gullit at The International
Addicted
Gullit’s first introduction to golf dates back to 1990, when he was still part of the illustrious Dutch trio (with Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten) at AC Milan as a footballer. ‘Hit the ball right once and you’re hooked,’ he experienced first-hand.
But football was obviously still number one back then and little came of playing, let alone taking lessons. ‘So in those days, it was limited to punching holes in the outfields at Milan’s training complex, something the club management didn’t like very much.’
Learning
The talent as a footballer did come in handy on the golf course. It is not uncommon for footballers’ ball skills to prove a good basis for rapid development as a golfer. Just like his team-mate Marco van Basten.
The disadvantage of having little time but still wanting to play golf: “You teach yourself. That’s fun too, but only later do you find out that some things are difficult to unlearn afterwards,” said Gullit, who later did take some lessons from teaching professionals.
Nice people
His rich football career, which included winning the Champions League twice with AC Milan and the European title with the Dutch national team in 1988, is now far behind him. Golf has not only stolen Gullit’s heart, it fits him like a glove. ‘I don’t want to run anymore,’ he says with a smile. “I’ve done enough running in my life. The beauty of golf is that you can play it with anyone. Elderly people, women, men and children. Moreover, you often meet nice people on the golf course.”
Gullit also feels blessed to have a partner who is at least as addicted to golf as he is. Karin and Ruud are members at The International, the course on which the KLM Open will be played this year and next year. “They have calculated here at the club that of all the members, Karin uses the golf course the most. She is perhaps even more fanatical than me.”
On the couch watching golf
He illustrates this again with an example. Gullit, beloved in many football programmes as an analyst, was once in corona time a guest on such a programme via a live connection from home, when Karin stormed into the room and asked Ruud loudly “whether he had seen what Jon Rahm (Spanish top golfer) had just performed”. So live on air, Ruud had to briefly make it clear to his lover that this time his eyes were on football and not golf. ‘But together on the couch the other day we also enjoyed the final at the Masters and were happy for Rory, who I have met a few times, that he won.’
