The European Challenge Tour will return to Finland after a four-year absence with the announcement of the SK Golf Challenge at St. Laurence Golf from 12-15 June 2008.
The SK Golf Challenge, the first Challenge Tour event to be played in the country since 2004 when Finland’s Roope Kakko won the Volvo Finnish Open as an amateur, will carry a prize fund of €150,000. The 2008 SK Golf Challenge will be the first event in a three year agreement with promoters SK Festivals Oy.
St. Laurence Golf, located at Lohja, 50 kilometres west of the capital, Helsinki, was opened in 1990. The course is located on the grounds of the old Gunnarla Mansion and boasts two championship courses, Kalkki-Petteri (old course) and PyhठLauri (new course) along with a new six-hole practice course. It is widely regarded as one of the best golf facilities in Finland.
Finland hosted one of the first events on the Challenge Tour in its inaugural season of 1989 and the Volvo Finnish Open continued for 16 years until 2004. For six of those years there were in fact two Challenge Tour events in the season with the Finnish Masters from 1998-2000 preceding the Talma Finnish Challenge from 2001-2003.
The SK Golf Challenge in Finland further strengthens the ties in the Nordic region, joining events in Sweden, Norway and Denmark on the 2008 Challenge Tour schedule. Ultimately, SK Festivals’ goal for 2011 is to promote an event on The European Tour International Schedule in Finland.
European Tour www.europeantour.com