Anssi Kankkonen (born 11 October 1968) is a Finnish professional golfer who played on the European Tour.
| Anssi Kankkonen | |
|---|---|
| Personal information | |
| Born | 11 October 1968 Lahti, Finland |
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Sporting nationality |  Finland |
| Career | |
| Turned professional | 1990 |
| Former tour(s) | European Tour Challenge Tour |
| Professional wins | 4 |
| Number of wins by tour | |
| Challenge Tour | 3 |
| Other | 1 |
Kankkonen was born in Lahti, the son of former Olympic ski jumping champion Veikko Kankkonen, and followed in his father's footsteps winning a team competition in the Finnish Championships with the Lahti Ski Club team in 1985,[1] before turning to golf. As an amateur, he represented Finland at the 1990 Eisenhower Trophy.[2] He turned professional in 1990 and played on the Swedish Golf Tour before joining the Challenge Tour.
Kankkonen recorded his first Challenge Tour win at the 1995 SIAB Open, and almost won another tournament back-to-back, losing a playoff to Thomas Bjørn at the Himmerland Open. He played on the 1996 European Tour but recorded only one top-10, at the English Open, and returned to the Challenge Tour in 1997 where he won two tournaments, the Alianca UAP Challenge in Portugal after triumphing in a three-way playoff, and the Rolex Trophy Pro-Am in Switzerland. He would have made it three but lost a playoff with Knud Storgaard in the season opener, the Ivory Coast Open. He finished fifth on the Challenge Tour ranking to re-join the European Tour in 1998.[3]
Kankkonen represented Finland at five World Cups (1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997) with a best finish of 19th together with Kalle Väinölä in 1995.[4][5]
Professional wins (4)
editChallenge Tour wins (3)
edit| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 Jun 1995 | SIAB Open | −1 (74-69-68-72=283) | 2 strokes | Kalle Väinölä
|
| 2 | 27 Apr 1997 | Alianca UAP Challenger | −20 (64-63-70-71=268) | Playoff |  Fredrik Lindgren,  Nicolas Vanhootegem
|
| 3 | 20 Jul 1997 | Rolex Trophy Pro-Am | −12 (66-67-72-71=276) | 1 stroke |  Thomas Nielsen
|
Challenge Tour playoff record (1–2)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1995 | Himmerland Open |  Thomas Bjørn, Nicolas Vanhootegem
|
Bjørn won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 1997 | Open de Côte d'Ivoire | Knud Storgaard
|
|
| 3 | 1997 | Alianca UAP Challenger | Fredrik Lindgren, Nicolas Vanhootegem
|
Nordic Golf League wins (1)
edit| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory |
Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 Sep 2001 | PGA Finnish Championship | −8 (71-69-68=208) | 1 stroke | Kalle Aitala
|
Source:[6]
Team appearances
editAmateur
- Eisenhower Trophy (representing Finland): 1990
Professional
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Jussila, Pentti (1998). Suomen hiihto (in Finnish). Helsinki. p. 212. ISBN 951-1-15482-6.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "1990 World Amateur Team Golf Championship" (PDF). IGF. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- ^ "Anssi Kankkonen Bio". European Tour. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- ^ "World Cup of Golf". Sentinel. Santa Cruz, California. 13 November 1995. p. B4.
- ^ "World Cup of Golf". The Monitor. McAllen, Texas. 13 November 1995. p. 3B – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Results 2001 PGA Finnish Championship". Golfdata. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
External links
edit- Anssi Kankkonen at the European Tour official site
- Anssi Kankkonen at the Official World Golf Ranking official site
- Anssi Kankkonen at the Golfdata official site (in Swedish)