Mikko Ilonen collects EUR 90,000 for a day's work

print this

Finnish pro golfer Mikko Ilonen has had a decent few days lately. On Sunday he placed 12th in the BMW PGA Championship, a flagship event on the European Tour, and earned himself slightly more than EUR 63,000 in the process.
      Ilonen finished on a 3-under 285 over the four rounds at Wentworth in England, and kept some famous names behind him on the leaderboard.
     
Then he headed to Wales, where he will be taking part this week in the Celtic Manor Welsh Open, an event that he finished 3rd in five years ago.
      Before the tournament proper starts on Thursday, Ilonen took part on Monday in a skills competition with four other winners on the Asian legs of the European Tour, and he won the event. Ilonen qualified for this grand final by winning the Indonesian Open earlier this year.
      The competition, with aggregate prize money of USD 300,000 on offer, took the form of a seven-part "skill challenge", testing aspects of the players' game from driving to bunker shots to putting.
      Ilonen scored 26 points (in each category, the individual winner scored five points, down to one point for coming last of the five), and he beat off the challenge of Thailand's Chapchai Nirat with 22 points.
     
His day's work netted him USD 120,000 (approximately EUR 90,000) in prize money.
      The additional cash injection from this event will be welcome enough, though it is probable that the really priceless benefit to have come out of Ilonen's maiden tour victory in Indonesia in February was that he becomes exempt from having to qualify for the European Tour for two years.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Mikko Ilonen becomes first Finnish golfer to win European Tour event (19.2.2007)

Links:
  European Tour: Ilonen wins the Bursa Malaysia Swing Grand Final

Helsingin Sanomat