Toni Karjalainen (born 9 July 1979) is a Finnish professional golfer who formerly 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 fi ...

and 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 T ...

. He was his country's highest ranked male golfer and one of only a few Finnish

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

ers playing on the leading professional tours when he won twice on the Challenge Tour in 2005 and 2006.

Amateur career

As an amateur, Karjalainen represented his country at the

European Youths' Team Championship The European Youths' Team Championship was a European amateur team golf championship for men under 22 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1961. It was played every year until 1982, then every second year. It ...

, the

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 ...

and twice 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. Eise ...

. At the

2001 European Amateur Team Championship The 2001 European Amateur Team Championship took place 3–7 July at Ljunghusen Golf Club in Höllviken, Sweden. It was the 22nd men's golf European Amateur Team Championship. Venue The club was founded in 1932 and by 1965 it was the first ...

Ljunghusen Golf Club Ljunghusen Golf Club is a links golf club located in Höllviken, Skåne County in Sweden. It has hosted the PLM Open on the European Tour. History The club is located on Sweden's southern tip, along the Baltic Sea. Its first six holes were built ...

in Sweden, team Finland finished a historical high forth (behind England, Ireland and Sweden) in the qualifying stroke-play competition and lost to champions to be Scotland in the quarter-finals. In June 2002, still an amateur, Karjalainen won the Messilä Trophy in Finland on 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 ...

Professional career

Karjalainen earned his playing rights on the

2004 Nordic Golf League The 2004 Nordic Golf League was the sixth season of the Nordic Golf League, a third-tier tour recognised by the European Tour. Schedule The following table lists official events during the 2004 season. Order of Merit The Order of Merit was b ...

by finished second at the qualifying school at Eslöv Golf Club in Sweden at the end of 2003. Karjalainen won the 2005 Thomas Bjørn Open in

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in his first season on the

, the

's official developmental tour, on his way to finish 20th on the Order of Merit, the last place to earn full membership, with limited privileges, on the

for 2006. He followed that up in 2006 by winning again on the Challenge Tour, the

Telenet Trophy The KPMG Trophy is a golf tournament on the Challenge Tour, played in Belgium. It was first played in May 2006 as the Telenet Trophy at Limburg G&CC in Houthalen-Helchteren Houthalen-Helchteren (; li, Hôtele-Helichtre) is a municipality located ...

at the Limburg Golf and Country Club in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in a last round interrupted by thunderstorms. He also made several appearances on the main European Tour in 2006, making five cuts. His best finish on the European Tour was tied 20th at the 2006

BA-CA Golf Open The Austrian Open is a men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1990, and was a European Tour event for seven straight years up to 1996, being held under a variety of names due to regular changes of title sponsor. ...

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. In July 2006 he reached a career best 282nd on the Official World Golf Ranking, and was at the time Finland's highest ranked player. Having lost his playing privileges in Europe at the end of the 2008 season, Karjalainen joined 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 Wo ...

in 2009 after coming through

qualifying school In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

Professional wins (6)

Challenge Tour wins (2)

Nordic Golf League wins (3)

Finnish Tour wins (1)

Team appearances

Amateur *

(representing Finland): 1998, 2000 *

(representing Finland):

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2002 *

(representing Finland): 2001

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karjalainen, Toni Finnish male golfers European Tour golfers Asian Tour golfers Sportspeople from Lappeenranta 1979 births Living people 21st-century Finnish people