There’s a new 21-year-old winner on the European Tour and it only took him six events to step into the winner’s circle.
Say hello to Sami Valimaki from Finland, winner of the 2020 Oman Open on Sunday in an amazing sequence of events.
The young Fin got himself into contention early but at the ninth hole, he hit a thin bunker shot that would yield a costly double-bogey. He bounced back with a birdie at 10, then bogeyed 11, birdied 12, bogeyed 14. It was a see-saw afternoon with veteran Brandon Stone looking solid up ahead of him.
With Adrien Saddier in at 12-under, Stone lined up a 24-foot birdie attempt from the back fringe of the 72nd hole. He drained it for a 70 and a 13-under par total. He headed to the scorer’s room to watch Valimaki come in. After a perfect drive, Valimaki hit his second to 20-feet then holed the birdie putt to force a playoff with Stone.
The two parred the 18th the first two trips on the hole. The third time down, Stone hit a wild approach into the stands then after his drop, failed to get up-and-down for par. Valimaki grabbed his first victory with the four.
“It’s awesome,” said the 21-year-old. “There are not many words to say, it’s unbelievable.
“After the ninth hole when I made a double I knew that the tenth hole is good and I had to make a birdie on that. “I didn’t make a really good par on 11 and after that bogey I felt like, ‘okay this is gone’. But then I just grinded, made three birdies and on the last, an awesome birdie.”
