Marcus Mikael Kinhult (born 24 July 1996) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays 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 ...

. He won the 2019

Betfred British Masters The Betfred British Masters is a professional golf tournament. It was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters and was held every year up to 2008, except for 1984. Dunlop's sponsorship ended in 1982, and the name sponsor changed frequently therea ...

Early life

Being son of golf professional Mikael Kinhult, he started playing the game at six years of age at Skaftö Golf Club in

Fiskebäckskil Fiskebäckskil is a locality in Lysekil Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden, at the mouth of the Gullmarn fjord. It had 379 inhabitants in 2010. Once primarily a fishing community, it transformed into a shipping community in the 19th cen ...

, on the small Swedish west coast island Skaftö with 1,400 inhabitants. Other famous members, spending a lot of time there during summer seasons, were future

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

captain

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 ...

, five-times European Tour winner

Barry Lane Barry Douglas Lane (21 June 1960 – 31 December 2022) was an English professional golfer. He won five official European Tour events between 1988 and 2004. He played in the 1993 Ryder Cup and won the inaugural Andersen Consulting World Champion ...

and

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 ...

winner to be

Joel Sjöholm Joel Nils Patricio Sjöholm (born 21 February 1985) is a Swedish professional golfer, who currently plays on the Challenge Tour. He has won twice on the Challenge Tour; in 2017 and 2022. Early life He was born in Chile and was adopted by a Swedis ...

. Kinhults younger sister

Frida Kinhult Frida Mikaela Kinhult (born 25 September 1999) is a Swedish professional golfer. She rose to world number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking in June 2019 and won the 2020 Symetra Tour Championship to graduate to the LPGA Tour. Early life and ...

is also a tournament golf professional. In June 2019 she reached number one on the

World Amateur Golf Ranking The World Amateur Golf Ranking for men was introduced by The R&A, the governing body of the sport of golf outside the United States and Mexico, on 23 January 2007. It is based on the results of over 2,600 amateur tournaments per year (and amateurs p ...

, a feat her brother never achieved, as his best world amateur ranking was second.

Amateur career

In 2014 Kinhult represented

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

at the

Summer Youth Olympics The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

and at the

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 ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in the

Junior Ryder Cup The Junior Ryder Cup is a team golf competition between Europe and the United States for junior golfers aged 18 and under. It is based on the men's Ryder Cup and is run by the same organisations, the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe. The 2018 ...

. At the

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

, China, he earned an individual silver medal and a gold medal in the mixed team event with

Linnea Ström Linnea Ström (born 14 October 1996) is a Swedish professional golfer. She joined the U.S.-based LPGA Tour after graduating from the Symetra Tour as 2018 Rookie of the Year. Amateur career Ström became a member of the Swedish National Golf T ...

, making Sweden tied best nation at golf in the games. The Swedish team finished 4th in the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

in Kuruizawa, Japan, with Kinhult finishing as best Swedish player, having the 6th best individual score, five strokes from winner

Jon Rahm Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. In April 2015, Kinhult won one of the more important junior tournaments in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley Golf Club,

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, becoming the first non-American to do so. A month later, he won the prestigious

Lytham Trophy The Lytham Trophy is an amateur golf tournament founded in 1965 by the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, where it has always been held. It is a 72-hole scratch stroke play competition, and is classified as a Category A event by the World Amateur ...

Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England, is one of the courses in the The Open Championship, Open Championship rotation. The Women's British Open has also been played on the course five times: once prior to being ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, by eight shots, following in the footsteps of former winners, such as

Michael Bonallack Sir Michael Francis Bonallack, OBE (born 31 December 1934) is an English amateur golfer who was one of the leading administrators in world golf in the late 20th century. Bonallack was born in Chigwell, Essex. He learned the game of golf under ...

Peter McEvoy Peter Aloysius McEvoy OBE (born 22 March 1953) was a leading British amateur golfer for many years, and is now a golf course designer, golf administrator, and golf writer. Early life McEvoy was born in London, but spent much of his childhood l ...

Paul Broadhurst Paul Andrew Broadhurst (born 14 August 1965) is an English professional golfer. He won six times on the European Tour and played in the 1991 Ryder Cup. Since turning 50, he has had success in senior events, winning the 2016 Senior Open Champio ...

and

Stephen Gallacher Stephen James Gallacher (born 1 November 1974) is a Scottish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. Early life and amateur career Gallacher was born in Dechmont, West Lothian and is the nephew of former European Ryder Cup captain ...

. Kinhult again grabbed the golfing headlines in June 2015 when he led the

Nordea 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 c ...

Bro Hof Slott Golf Club Bro Hof Slott Golf Club is a golf course located in Upplands-Bro, Sweden, northwest of the capital Stockholm. There are two 18-hole courses, both designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. ''The Stadium Course'' opened in 2007 and is considered one of t ...

in Stockholm, Sweden, at the halfway stage, after opening with rounds of 68 and 67. Only 18 years old, he ultimately tied for 33rd place in what was his second European Tour appearance. He was the third amateur to lead a European Tour event after 36 holes, and the first since Ireland's

Shane Lowry Shane Lowry (born 2 April 1987) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. His notable achievements include winning the 2019 Open Championship, the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009, and the 2015 WGC-Brid ...

at the 2009 Irish Open, which Lowry went on to win. In late 2015 he entered the

European Tour Qualifying School The European Tour Qualifying School is an annual golf tournament which enables professional golfers to gain a place on the European Tour and its official development tour, the Challenge Tour. The European Tour Qualifying School In professional ...

as an amateur. After finishing third in the second stage, he led after three rounds at the final stage, eventually settling for the 17th card. Though he had considered going to college in America, he turned professional after his success at PGA Catalunya Resort.

Professional career

2016 was a disappointing first season for Kinhult on the

and he only made two cuts. Halfway through the season he dropped down to the

where his best performance was at the Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge, where he held a two-shot lead heading into final round. He eventually finished fourth. Having entered the tournament in 68th place on the Road to Oman he needed a top-three finish to qualify for 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 ...

. Kinhult had better success on the Challenge Tour in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. He had five top-5 finishes, earned a career best solo second at the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, and finished 5th in the Road to Oman, which gained him his European Tour card for 2018. He started the

2018 European Tour The 2018 European Tour is the 47th season of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972 and the 10th edition of the Race to Dubai. The Race to Dubai was won by Italian Francesco Molinari, who was also named Golfer of the Ye ...

strongly and after finishing solo third at the

Commercial Bank Qatar Masters The Qatar Masters was a European Tour golf tournament held at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar. When founded in 1998, it was one of two European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but was at one point, one of six. From 2005 to 2007 ...

and tied for fifth at

Open de France The Open de France is a European Tour golf tournament. Inaugurated in 1906 it is the oldest national open in Continental Europe and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the tour's inception in 1972. The 100th edition of the event ...

he rose to 148 on 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 ...

and qualified for his first

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

at the

2018 Open Championship The 2018 Open Championship was the 147th Open Championship, and was held from 19–22 July 2018 at Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland. It was the eighth Open Championship to be played at Carnoustie. Playing conditions were unusual as a re ...

, where he made the cut. Later in the season Kinhult was tied for 4th in the

Portugal Masters The Portugal Masters was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament which was played for the first time in October 2007. It had a prize fund is US$2 million, making it one of the richest golf tournaments in Portugal. It was jointly staged b ...

and he ended the 2018 season 49th in the Order of Merit. In May

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, Kinhult secured his maiden professional victory at the

Hillside Golf Club Hillside Golf Club is a golf club located in Southport, England. The club was founded in 1911. Classed as a "links" course, because of the type of vegetation and geography, it runs over 18 holes and about 7,000 yards, all the holes being between ...

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

. With birdies on the last two holes of the tournament, rolling in an eight-foot birdie putt at the last hole, Kinhult out-dueled his playing partner

Matt Wallace Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley,Walton Heath Walton Heath Golf Club is a golf club in England, near Walton-on-the-Hill in Surrey, southwest of London. Founded in 1903, the club comprises two 18-hole golf courses, both of which are well known for having heather covering many of the areas ...

U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Surrey, England, he qualified for the 2019 U.S. Open at

Pebble Beach Pebble Beach is an unincorporated community on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey County, California. The small coastal residential community of mostly single-family homes is also notable as a resort destination, and the home of the golf course ...

, where he went on to record the lowest Sunday round of the tournament (66) to finish tied-32 in his first major on American soil. In November 2019, Kinhult finished second in the

Nedbank Golf Challenge The Nedbank Golf Challenge, previously known as the Million Dollar Challenge, is an annual men's professional golf tournament played at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City, North West province, South Africa. It was first played in 1981 and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, after losing in a playoff to

Tommy Fleetwood Thomas Paul Fleetwood (born 19 January 1991) is an English professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and European Tour. He has won six times on the European Tour. Background and amateur career Fleetwood was born on 19 January 1991 in Southpo ...

. He finished the

European Tour season 12th on the Order of Merit Race to Dubai rankings and was awarded 2019

Swedish Golfer of the Year Swedish Golfer of the Year is awarded annually by the Swedish Golf Federation. The award is individual and awarded since 1966 to the Swedish golfer with the best overall golf performance each year, either in a series of achievements or a single b ...

, male and female. In January 2020, he reached a career best 81st on the

. During a practice period in

in April 2021, Kinhult suddenly suffered an epileptic seizure, which caused him to take a break of several months from tournament golf. Seven weeks after the incident, Kinhult played nine holes of practice golf at his home course Skaftö GC in Sweden. He game back to competition at the Irish Open on the European Tour in the beginning of July 2021. In February 2022, Kinhult won the GolfStar Winter Series II on the Nordic Golf League.

Amateur wins

*2013 Skandia Junior Open Boys, Swedish Junior Stroke-Play Championship *2014 Swedish Junior Stroke-Play Championship,

(with

) *2015 Junior Invitational at Sage Valley,

Source:

Professional wins (2)

European Tour wins (1)

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Nordic Golf League wins (1)

Results in major championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2019 and in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic
NT = No tournament
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur *

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 ...

(representing Sweden): 2013, 2014 * Junior World Cup (representing Sweden): 2013 *

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 ...

(representing Continental Europe): 2014 *

(representing Sweden):

(representing Europe): 2014 *

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...