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Sami Välimäki has high hopes for someone who comes from a nation with very little golf tradition.
“Ultimately to be the best in the world and challenge for majors,” the 22-year-old Finn says when asked where he wants to go in this game.
Fanciful? Perhaps not considering he ended his first full European Tour season as the 2020 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year thanks in part to winning the Oman Open. Previous winners of the award include seven major champions and four players who have reached the top of the Official World Golf Ranking (Nick Faldo, Martin Kaymer, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm). Why shouldn’t Välimäki dream large?
Look for Finland’s footprint in this game and you won’t get much further than Mikko Ilonen. The 2000 Amateur champion won five times on the European Tour. Not bad from a country with a season that lasts five to six months due to the harsh Baltic winter.
Välimäki was born in Nokia, a spa town 200km north of Finland’s capital city of Helsinki, site of the 19th-century pulp mill and Finnish Rubber Works that amalgamated in 1904 to evolve into the eponymous 1990s global communications giant.
“My mum and dad were decent golfers,” Välimäki said. “They first took me to the driving range when I was 7 and I started playing tournaments when I was 12 or 13. I was playing ice hockey too but quit when I was 16 to focus on golf.”
“After the restart, I had three bad events where I missed the cut, but I knew exactly what I had to work on to sharpen up my iron play. I felt really good about the rest of my game.”
Sami Välimäki
As a 16-year-old, Välimäki skated at the highest junior level in Finland, a member of the so-called “Big Six” hockey nations with Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden and the Czech Republic. No surprise he is an avid NHL fan, especially of the Calgary Flames, where his cousin, Juuso Välimäki, plays defence.
His decision to focus on golf paid dividends when two solid seasons on the European amateur circuit delivered a Portuguese Amateur title in 2017, and back-to-back wins at the Ticino Championship, a prominent Swiss event. That consistency led to his representing the Continent of Europe at the St Andrews and Bonallack trophies, and to a 10th-place spot on the World Amateur Golf Ranking in 2018.
Välimäki fulfilled Finland’s mandatory six months of military service and turned pro in early 2019, winning his very first event in Morocco on the Pro Golf Tour, a third-tier European circuit. After three more victories and with Challenge Tour status secured, he headed to the Q-School with much confidence and little pressure.
“Before Morocco, he had spent three weeks in a pine forest,” said Timo Karvinen, Välimäki’s coach since age 17. “I remind him of this when we work on his mental approach. He is only 22, and sometimes his expectations are so high he gets very tough on himself.”
He matched those expectations by taking the 12th card at the 2019 European Tour Qualifying School. Unable to play January’s lucrative Middle East Swing, Välimäki went to Australia to start his year. A seventh-place finish at the Victorian Open set him up for his Oman win in just his sixth European Tour start. However, it was the penultimate event before the global pandemic sounded the horn on the 2020 season.
“After the restart, I had three bad events where I missed the cut, but I knew exactly what I had to work on to sharpen up my iron play,” Välimäki said. “I felt really good about the rest of my game.”
He spent three weeks at home working with Karvinen and returned to the UK to post a tie for sixth at the Celtic Classic and second place at the ISPS Handa Wales Open.
“Those two events gave me the confidence I needed to play so consistently the rest of the season,” he said.
Except for a weekend off at his first career major, the US Open at Winged Foot, he only once finished outside the top 20 in his remaining events, form impressive enough to earn 11th spot on the Race to Dubai.
Former Finnish and Swiss national coach Karvinen says Välimäki’s ability can take him a long way.
“Sami is an excellent putter and iron player,” Karvinen said. “His stats show his dispersion is as good with a long iron as with an 8- or 9-iron, so the longer the course the better for him. Sami is almost guaranteed a spot at the Tokyo Olympics, and I expect him to push inside the world’s top 50. This is a big year for him.”
Välimäki agrees. He’s also aware of his potential to drive Finnish golf forward.
Currently there are 10 men and 11 women from Finland in the top 1,000 on their respective world-ranking lists, disproportionate representation from a nation with a population of only 5.5 million, of which 138,995 are registered golfers across 125 courses (according to the latest KPMG figures).
“Golf is growing up in Finland, not just with us pros but at all levels,” Välimäki said. “There are 10,000 new golfers since the pandemic began and we have seen the most rounds of play ever during 2020. Mikko (Ilonen) was the first guy on tour. He won five times and people started talking about golf here for the first time. I’d like to think I can have a similar effect.”
Driven and ultra-competitive on the golf course, Välimäki enjoys solitude when back home in Nokia.
“I like to play computer games,” he said. “Counterstrike is my favourite just now. And I like to get away completely and fish for perch and pike. We have so many lakes in Finland so it’s easy to find good spots to fish.”
Välimäki’s 2020 catch was certainly impressive. What will he land in 2021?
E-Mail Jonathan