Jesper Theodor Kennegård (born 11 July 1988) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

professional golfer and Challenge Tour player. He won the Junior Golf World Cup in 2007 and the

Nordic Golf League The Nordic Golf League is one of the four PGA European Tour-recognised third-tier men's professional golf tours that are known as the Satellite Tours. The top five players on the rankings list at the end of each season earn a place on the second t ...

Order of Merit in 2013.

Early life and amateur career

Kennegård was born in 1988 and started playing golf at six. At six foot four, he has an imposing presence, like his father Stefan, who was a Swedish professional

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

er with 24 appearances for the national team in the 1980s. Kennegård was low amateur at the 2006

Scandinavian Masters The Scandinavian Masters is an annual golf tournament on the European Tour played in Sweden. In 2020 the tournament became co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour and rebranded as the Scandinavian Mixed, in which both male and female golfers ...

, finishing T27, and had a successful career with the National Team winning several team medals. He won bronze at the 2005

European Boys' Team Championship The European Boys' Team Championship (Jean-Louis Dupont Trophy) is a European amateur team golf championship for men up to 18 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1980 and it has been played annually since. S ...

in Italy together with Nicklas Glans,

Pontus Widegren Pontus Widegren (born 14 October 1990) is a Swedish professional golfer. Widegren became the youngest Club Champion at Stockholm Golf Club after winning the title aged just 13. He turned professional in 2013 after playing college golf for four y ...

Björn Åkesson Björn Oskar Ingemar Åkesson (born 4 January 1989) is a Swedish professional golfer that has played on the European Tour. He won the 2023 Nordic Golf League Order of Merit. Amateur career Åkesson had a successful youth career and played for t ...

, Rasmus Åstrand and

David Lingmerth David Lingmerth (born 22 July 1987) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the Korn Ferry Tour. Early life Lingmerth was born and grew up in Tranås in the province of Småland, Sweden, and is son of Thomas and Birgitta Lingmerth. He bega ...

. In 2007, he won gold at the Junior Golf World Cup in Japan with

and

Daniel Jennevret Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

. He won bronze at the

2008 Eisenhower Trophy The 2008 Eisenhower Trophy took place 16–19 October at Royal Adelaide Golf Club and on the West course at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia. It was the 26th World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy and the second to b ...

held at the Royal Adelaide Golf Club in Australia with

Henrik Norlander Henrik Anders Norlander (born 25 March 1987) is a Swedish professional golfer, who plays on the PGA Tour. Early life Norlander was born and grew up in Danderyd, outside Stockholm, Sweden, and is son of lawyer Anders Norlander. He played both tenn ...

and

. In 2010, he won silver at the

2010 European Amateur Team Championship The 2010 European Amateur Team Championship took place 6–10 July at Österåker Golf Club in Åkersberga, Sweden. Venue The club was founded in 1988 and its Västerled course, opened the same year, was co-designed by Sven Tumba and Jan Sed ...

at Österåker Golf Club together with

Nils Florén Nils is a Scandinavian given name, a chiefly Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Latvian variant of Niels, cognate to Nicholas. People and animals with the given name * Nils Bergström (born 1985), Swedish ice hockey player *Nils Björk (1898–1989) ...

and

Robin Wingårdh Robin may refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), including: **European robin (''Erithacus rubecula'') ** Bush-robin **Forest r ...

. He represented the Continent of Europe in the

Jacques Léglise Trophy The Jacques Léglise Trophy is an annual amateur boys' team golf competition between Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It was first played in 1977, as a one-day match before the Boys Amateur Championship, but since 1996 it has b ...

twice, and in the St Andrews Trophy twice. Kennegård accepted a golf scholarship to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

and played with the

Arizona State Sun Devils men's golf The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member ...

team between 2007 and 2011 with some success, winning three tournaments and named a third team All-American in 2009–10. When he left, Kennegård also ranked fourth in the university's all-time scoring average, just one place below Phil Mickelson, and two spots ahead of Paul Casey. Kennegård crowned his college career with a selection to represent Europe in the

2010 Palmer Cup The 2010 Palmer Cup was held on 24–26 June 2010 at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Portrush, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The United States won 13–11. Format The format was revised with play being over three days rather than two. On Thu ...

, where incidentally half the team was made up of his compatriots. Sweden's Walle Danewid coached the European team for the second straight year and the team also featured

and

Professional career

Kennegård turned professional in 2011 but was unsuccessful at the European Tour Q-School in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. Instead, he played on the

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...

in 2012, with a tie for sixth at the Worldwide Holdings Selangor Masters as his best result. He played in the

in 2013 dominating the league, winning three times in 18 starts, as well as notching up a further 10 top-10 results. Promoted to the 2014 Challenge Tour however, he made only 2 cuts in 15 starts. In 2021, Kennegård returned to his winning ways. He won the NGL's Stockholm Trophy in June, and in August he was runner-up at the

Made in Esbjerg Challenge The Made in Denmark Challenge is a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour. It was first played in May 2015 at the Royal Golf Club in Copenhagen, Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and r ...

, a Challenge Tour event, which helped him climb into the top-400 in the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolli ...

for the first time. After rounds of 68, 68, and 67 Kennegård led the

Challenge Tour Grand Final The Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final is the season-ending tour championship on the Challenge Tour. The field currently consists of the top 45 players on the Challenge Tour rankings vying for fifteen European Tour cards. It has been played annually ...

in Mallorca ahead of the final round, and was on course to earn one of the 20 European Tour cards on offer. A 77 on the final day however, meant he finished the tournament T8 and the season 27th in the rankings.

Amateur wins

* 2004 Vikingaskeppet, Bankboken Cup P16 * 2005 Haninge Junior Open * 2006 Telia Tourkval Degeberga-Widtsköfle * 2007 Alex Norén Junior Open Source:

Professional wins (5)

Nordic Golf League wins (5)

Team appearances

Amateur * Junior Golf World Cup (representing Sweden): 2006, 2007 (winners) *

(representing the Continent of Europe): 2005 (winners), 2006 (winners) * St Andrews Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 2008, 2010 (winners) *

(representing Sweden): 2005, 2006 * European Amateur Team Championship (representing Sweden):

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

* Eisenhower Trophy (representing Sweden):

Palmer Cup The Arnold Palmer Cup is an annual team golf competition for college/university golfers. From 2018 it has been contested between a United States team and an International team representing the rest of the world. The teams consist of 12 men and 12 ...

(representing Europe):

Sources:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennegard, Jesper Swedish male golfers Arizona State Sun Devils men's golfers Golfers from Stockholm 1988 births Living people