Linna Golf Finland tipped as future European Tour venue

Linna Golf in Finland, host of last week’s SK Golf Challenge won by Nicolas Colsaerts, has been heralded a future European Tour venue by leading players and officials.   Former Ryder Cup star Jarmo Sandelin and two-time European Tour winner Mikko Ilonen, heaped praise on the three-year-old course, which was bathed in warm summer sunshine for its debut Challenge Tour event.   Sandelin said: “The course is just about perfect. Playing on courses like this will help the Challenge Tour players to improve very quickly. It’s great to play a course of this standard.”   Ilonen, who was cheered around his home course by 5,000 enthusiastic fans, added: “I’ve been saying for some time that Linna Golf is one of the best golf courses in Europe and is worthy of hosting top flight tournament golf. With the success of the SK Golf Challenge, I think Linna Golf is now ready for a European Tour event.”   Linna Golf was designed by European Golf Design (the European Tour/IMG joint venture) and is part of the European Tour Properties portfolio. It has proved a popular alternative golf holiday destination, with the warm summers and long daylight hours enabling visitors to play late into the night – midnight rounds are a possibility in mid June.   Linna Golf’s next date with tournament golf is the 2010 European Amateur Championships, a prestigious event with a reputation for showcasing future stars – Sergio Garcia is among the past winners.

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