Sami Välimäki

Sami Välimäki (born 16 July 1998) is a Finnish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. On his 6th European Tour start he won the 2020 Oman Open.

Sami Välimäki
Personal information
Born (1998-07-16) 16 July 1998
Nokia, Finland
Nationality Finland
Career
Turned professional2019
Current tour(s)European Tour
Former tour(s)Pro Golf Tour
Professional wins5
Highest ranking68 (17 January 2021)[1]
(as of 7 February 2021)
Number of wins by tour
European Tour1
Other4
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipDNP
U.S. OpenCUT: 2020
The Open ChampionshipDNP
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year		2020

Amateur career

During 2018 Välimäki was selected for the Europe team in the Bonallack Trophy and for the Continent of Europe team in the St Andrews Trophy. He played for the Finnish team that won the 2018 European Amateur Team Championship and represented Finland in the 2018 Eisenhower Trophy. He reached as high as 10th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking during 2018. While still an amateur, Välimäki also played a number of Nordic Golf League events in during 2017 and 2018.

Professional career

Välimäki turned professional in early 2019 after the completion of his military service in Finland. He played mostly on the Pro Golf Tour during 2019. He won his first professional victory in February at the Open Casa Green Golf in Morocco.[2] He won twice more on the tour in August and also won the end-of-season Castanea Resort Championship for his fourth win of the season. Despite his four wins he only finished second in the Order of Merit.[3]

After his third win on the 2019 Pro Golf Tour, Välimäki earned a place on the Challenge Tour,[4] but later he qualified for the main European Tour for 2020 by finishing 8th in qualifying school. In his fifth start of the 2020 season he won the Oman Open, beating Brandon Stone in a playoff.[5]

Amateur wins
  • 2016 Ticino Championship, Finnish Junior Match Play Under-18
  • 2017 Portuguese Internacional Amateur Championship, Ticino Championship

Source:[6]

Professional wins (5)

European Tour wins (1)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 1 Mar 2020 Oman Open −13 (74-67-64-70=275) Playoff Brandon Stone

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2020 Oman Open Brandon Stone Won with par on third extra hole

Pro Golf Tour wins (4)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 9 Feb 2019 Open Casa Green Golf −14 (68-66-67=201) 2 strokes David Heinzinger
2 18 Aug 2019 Starnberg Open −13 (68-64-68=200) 1 stroke Thomas Rosenmüller
3 25 Aug 2019 EXTEC CzechOne Open −13 (67-66-67=200) 3 strokes Ondřej Lieser
4 2 Oct 2019 Castanea Resort Championship −19 (67-63-67=197) 4 strokes Ondřej Lieser

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 2020
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship NT
  Did not play

NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Team appearances

Amateur

See also

References
  1. "Week 3 2021 Ending 17 Jan 2021" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  2. "Tour-Rookie Sami Välimäki wins in Morocco". PGA of Germany. 10 February 2019.
  3. "Trophies for Sami Välimäki and Hurly Long". PGA of Germany. 2 October 2019.
  4. "Third win and direct Challenge Tour promotion for Sami Välimäki". PGA of Germany. 25 August 2019.
  5. Huggan, John (1 March 2020). "Finland's Sami Valimaki, just 18 months out of military service, wins Oman Open". Golf World. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  6. "Sami Valimaki". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
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