Anssi Kankkonen (born 11 October 1968) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

who played on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

. Kankkonen was born in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, the son of former Olympic

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

champion

Veikko Kankkonen Veikko Kankkonen (born 5 January 1940) is a retired Finnish ski jumper who competed at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympics. He won two medals in 1964 with a gold in the individual normal hill and a silver in the individual large hill event ...

, and followed in his father's footsteps winning a team competition in the Finnish Championships with the Lahti Ski Club team in 1985, before turning to golf. As an amateur, he represented Finland at the

1990 Eisenhower Trophy The 1990 Eisenhower Trophy took place 25 to 28 October at the Christchurch Golf Club near Christchurch, New Zealand. It was the 17th World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy. The tournament was a 72-hole stroke play team event with ...

. He turned professional in 1990 and played on the

Swedish Golf Tour The Swedish Golf Tour (currently known as the MoreGolf Mastercard Tour for sponsorship reasons), is a developmental professional golf formerly operated by Svenska Golftourerna AB, owned equally by the Swedish Golf Federation and the PGA of Swede ...

before joining the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and, as with on the main European Tour and the European Senior Tour, some of the events are played outside Europe. History The ...

. Kankkonen recorded his first Challenge Tour win at the 1995

SIAB Open The NCC Open was a golf tournament on the Swedish Golf Tour from 1984 and on the Challenge Tour from 1990. It was last played in 2001 and always held at Söderåsen Golf Club near Söderåsen National Park outside Helsingborg, Sweden Sw ...

, and almost won another tournament back-to-back, losing a playoff to

Thomas Bjørn Thomas Bjørn (born 18 February 1971) is a professional golfer from Denmark who plays on the European Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he a ...

at the

Himmerland Open The Himmerland Open was a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, played in Denmark. It was held from 1994 to 1998 at Himmerland Golf & Spa Resort in Farsø. Winners See also *Made in Denmark The Made in Denmark is a professional golf tourname ...

. He played on the

1996 European Tour The 1996 European Tour was the 25th official season of golf tournaments known as the PGA European Tour. The 1996 season saw co-sanctioning arrangements expand, with the PGA Tour of Australasia's Heineken Classic joining three Southern Africa Tou ...

but recorded only one top-10, at the

English Open The English Open was a professional golf tournament held in England. First played in 1988, it was an annual event on the European Tour until 2002. After several aborted attempts at reviving the tournament, it returned to the tour schedule in 20 ...

, and returned to the Challenge Tour in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

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 The Ivory Coast Open or Open de Côte d'Ivoire was a golf tournament in the Ivory Coast. It was founded in 1980, and was an event on the Safari Circuit the following year. It was an event on the European-based Challenge Tour schedule in 1990 and ...

. He finished fifth on the Challenge Tour ranking to re-join the European Tour in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. Kankkonen represented Finland at five

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

s (

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

) with a best finish of 19th together with

Kalle Väinölä Kalle Väinölä (born 15 December 1971) is a retired Finnish professional golfer who played on the Challenge Tour and European Tour 1995–2004. Career Väinölä's family moved to a new house adjacent to a golf course when he was two years ol ...

in 1995.

Professional wins (4)

Challenge Tour wins (3)

Nordic Golf League wins (1)

Source:

Team appearances

Amateur *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958, it is named after Dwight D. Eisen ...

(representing Finland):

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

Professional *

(representing Finland):

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kankkonen, Anssi Finnish male golfers European Tour golfers Sportspeople from Lahti 1968 births Living people 20th-century Finnish people