Finnish golf star Sami Välimäki took the European tour tournament win in Qatar over the weekend, which of course has great significance for the man himself but also for Finnish golf as a whole.
Considering the 25-year-old Välimäki’s troubles in recent years, it’s no wonder that Sunday’s first place made the Finn particularly emotional.
Välimäki started his professional career in 2019 after first winning the amateur EC gold in 2018.
The takeoff continued at a dizzying pace. In the 2019 season, Välimäki picked up four tournament wins from the Central European Pro Golf Tour and claimed a spot on the European tour.
The first year on the European tour immediately offered a big Finnish celebration, because Välimäki won a tournament in Oman in March 2020. In addition, Välimäki took one second place and five other positions in the top ten from the European tour of the 2020 season.
The victory of the Oman race was selected as the most inspiring sports moment of the year at the next Sports Gala. In the athlete of the year vote, the golfer was chosen second. Only Huuhkajie and Leverkusen’s goalkeeper made it to the top Lukas Hradecky.
Gentlemen:
Mikko Ilonen (5 tournament wins)
Mikko Korhonen (2)
Sami Välimäki (2)
Roope Kakko
Kalle Samoa
Ladies:
Minea Blomqvist-Second (2)
Riikka Hakkarainen
Matilda Castren
Tiia Koivisto
Then the trouble started. Performance assurance and self-confidence were missing. In 2021, Välimäki’s best ranking on the European tour was 21st.
– Couldn’t find one or two things why the season went so badly. The punch started to slip a bit, and it could not be corrected in any way. Self-confidence went at the same time, Välimäki told Urheilu about his performances for the 2021 season.
The preparation for the 2022 season did not go as planned due to the disease caused by the coronavirus. When the results finally started to show light at the end of the tunnel in the summer, Välimäki disappeared from the playing fields for a long time. Later, the cause was revealed to be myocarditis. The golfer had been in the hospital for almost a week. Välimäki told To the golf coursethat the myocarditis started from stomach disease.
In the summer of 2022, Välimäki was fourth in one competition. It was his only European Tour top-10 finish in 2021-2022.
“It was a good outburst of emotion”
On Sunday, Välimäki returned as a winner when he defeated Spain Jorge Campillo on the first repeat hole.
In the 2023 season, in addition to his recent victory, Välimäki has taken two second places and three top 10 places on the European tour.
– Yes, there was a good outburst of emotion. I had been waiting for a long time because the next win will come. It took a long time, and I think I would have even deserved it earlier. It’s great that it finally came, Välimäki was happy to Urheilu.
In an interview for the European tour, Välimäki broke down in tears.
– Unbelievable. It’s hard to talk. It’s been a long journey. It feels great, the Finn was able to describe.
In the background, Välimäki had already turned over all the possible stones to fix his mood. English Liam James your ear Timo Karvinen Välimäki as coach in summer 2022.
Karvinen no longer serves as Välimäki’s personal pilot, but the coach, who has worked as a golf teaching professional since 1994, knows very well how important yesterday’s victory was.
For the golf magazine Karvinen already said earlier this year that Finland does not understand how good a player Välimäki is.
– Sami is one of the talents of European golf, the absolute stars of the future. Yes, Sami is aiming to be a top 10 player on the European tour, Karvinen told the newspaper.
Now at the latest, Välimäki has returned to a truly European top.
– The fundamental reason is the incredible work ethic for self-development. It’s uncompromising, really hard work, Karvinen answers when asked about Välimäki’s return to the tournament.
However, Karvinen emphasizes that it is not just that Välimäki has returned to his level. He praises the cooperation between the player and his new coach Liam James, which allows us to talk about a new level.
– They have done a great job in developing the batting. Quite simply, Sami has become one of the best ball hitters in Europe. And knowing that he’s a good putter, it was only a matter of time before he started to be successful.
A historic venue for the PGA Tour
With his victory in the Qatar race, Välimäki earned a prize money of 603,000 euros. Välimäki received around 292,000 euros for his victory in Oman in the winter of 2020.
Välimäki’s career earnings from the European tour are now 2.9 million euros. More than 1.5 million of them are from this season. According to the golf score among active Finnish players, there are only Mikko Korhonen with 4.5 million euros.
However, the most significant of all and the most historic for Finns is that Välimäki practically secured a place for next year’s PGA Tour, which is played mainly in the United States. No Finn has previously received a card for the PGA Tour, even for example Mikko Ilonen made a strong impression in individual tournaments.
This year, the ten best top 20 players who do not already have the right to play on the tour will claim their place from the European tour to the PGA Tour. Välimäki now rose to seventh place in the European tour overall.
– That’s amazing. It’s really a big deal. Compared to other sports, you could say that it is a world cup that is still limited to a certain number of players. Now Sami is among the best every week, says Karvinen.
On the PGA tour, Välimäki is faced with something new in many ways. Karvinen singles out the different game platforms as the biggest difference. He says that Välimäki has done well on hard surfaces, but in the United States the courts are “the other extreme”, soft bermuda grass.
Välimäki will therefore become the first Finnish tour player on the PGA Tour. In addition, he belongs to the winner category for the next two seasons in Europe. Although Välimäki can also qualify for any tournament in Europe, Karvinen believes that the focus will now shift to the PGA.
– I think that the next step in my career is to focus on the PGA and establish a place there.
On the PGA Tour, the sums of money are of course different. of the USA Scottie Scheffler has won two races this season, was second in two and in total 17 times in the top 10. He has collected the most money from the PGA Tour this season – around 19.8 million euros.
Physical trainer Pasi Keskumäki is one person who supported Välimäki throughout the moments of joy and pain in his professional career. He justifies Välimäki’s return as tournament winner in the same style as Karvinen.
– As Sami himself says, he has just worked hard. Through that comes the reward. Of course, there is an incredible amount of sports training, because it is a skill sport. It is supported by physical training, which enables the athlete to remain intact and able to train. That nothing would come to interrupt the hard work.
Välimäki’s sports coach James travels with the golfer to the games. Instead, the basis for the joint work of Keskumäki and Välimäki has been laid some time ago. Keskumäki started with the backgrounds of Välimäki when the golfer was 14 years old.
– Of course, nowadays, physics is more the athlete’s own responsibility, when he is out in the world so much. Physical training done when you were younger pays off. Now we just try to maintain things.
A golfer’s weeks are busy and playing days are long. Sometimes the competition venues have good opportunities for additional training, sometimes not.
Välimäki’s club in Finland is Nokia River Golf from this hometown. He has time to train together with Keskumäki when he visits Tampere.
In the gym in Tampere, the wall of which is decorated with a picture of Välimäki, the most recent tournament victory did not go unnoticed.
– People who don’t play golf themselves came to chat in the gym this morning while I was training. They congratulated and were surprised that it was a fun race, Keskumäki rejoices.