Blomqvist and Ahokas shine on good day for Finnish golf

1-2 victories on Ladies' European Tour and Men's Challenge Tour

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Sunday proved to be a bumper day for Finnish golfers.
      Minea Blomqvist and Ursula Wikström took the top two places at the Finnair Masters, a women’s European Tour event on home turf in Helsinki’s Tali, while Antti Ahokas and Roope Kakko repeated the feat at a men’s Challenge Tour tournament in Denmark.
     
Blomqvist and Wickström delighted the home crowds with stellar rounds of 65 and 66 respectively, and their competition went right down to the wire, with Blomqvist having to match a birdie putt from her rival on the last to win by a single stroke at 11-under (69-68-65; par 71).
      The pair began the day at 5-under, level with Italy’s Diana Luna, but three birdies on the outward nine propelled Blomqvist into the lead.
      At one stage she held a three-stroke advantage over Wickström, but birdies at 10, 14, 16, and 17 pulled Wickström right back into the mix, and the two players set off for the last with only one stroke in it.
     
Wickström piled on the pressure with a ten-metre birdie putt, and the crowd of several thousand began to think in terms of a two-way playoff, but Blomqvist nailed her own birdie putt from four metres to win it outright.
      Beatriz Recari of Spain and Germany’s Martina Eberl shared 3rd place at 7-under, and Diana Luna faded to finish 5th a further shot back.
      This was the 23-year-old Blomqvist’s second win on the Ladies’ Tour, and her first victory since her rookie year in 2004.
      She collected prize money of EU 30,000, and Wickström, who is still looking for her maiden win on the Tour, had to be content with EUR 20,300. She also finished runner-up here in 2005.
     
For Blomqvist it was nearly a double win, as her fiancé Roope Kakko was in good shape to take the ECCO Tour Championship event on the men’s Challenge Tour at Kokkedal Golf Club in Copenhagen.
      Approaching the last, overnight leaders Kakko and fellow-Finn Antti Ahokas in the final group looked to be out of contention, but the course leader Wil Besseling of Holland blew up on the last, four-putting for a double bogey six to leave the Finns in front.
      Ahokas claimed par at the 18th to win in 17-under, a personal record, while a bogey for Kakko relegated him to a four-way share of 2nd place one stroke behind.
     
It was a second Challenge Tour win of the season for Ahokas, 23, who came out on top in Argentina in the spring and followed it up with a 2nd-place finish in Colombia the very next week.
      The win and the cheque for EUR 28,800 lifts Ahokas to 6th on the Challenge Tour ranking list and puts him very close to securing a full European Tour licence for next season.
      Kakko also has an outside chance of getting a Tour card for 2009, as he is currently 32nd in the rankings - twenty players qualify automatically.
      At present, Finland’s only European Tour representative is Mikko Ilonen, a two-time tournament winner last season.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Minea Blomqvist earns 62,000 euros and access to the women´s golf majors (1.4.2008)

Links:
  Ladies European Tour
  European Challenge Tour
  Finnair Masters, Tali

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