This week marks the tenth anniversary of the HotelPlanner Tour’s Finland stop being played at Vierumäki’s Cooke Course, for the first of consecutive events in Northern Europe. Here’s all you need to know…
Ten years at Vierumäki
The Finnish Challenge has been hosted in Vierumäki since 2016, with a one-year hiatus due to Covid in the largely truncated 2020 season, meaning this is the tenth anniversary of the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge. The HotelPlanner Tour first stopped in Finland in 2001, moving from Golf Talma, to Kytäjä Golf, to Aura GC before settling at the Cooke Course. The event has been supported by the Finnish Golf Union since 2024, with two Finnish champions, Kim Koivu and Lauri Ruuska, being crowned in the last seven editions.
The Cooke Course itself, located 81 miles north-east of Helsinki, was designed by North American architect Graham Cooke, and is set in rolling countryside surrounded by beautiful lakes. The fairways are wide and tree-lined, while water comes into play at the third, sixth and seventh holes, as well as the driveable par four 13th.
On-site at the Vierumäki Resort is also the Sport Institute of Finland Olympic Training Centre. Part of the worldwide Association of Sports Performance Centres, with a vast range of facilities for swimming, skiing, gymnastics and more. Players this week will be able to use the world class gym facilities available at the centre.
Previous Winners
Whoever comes out victorious come Sunday in Finland will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of 2025 champion David Law. The Scot carded rounds of 65-68-70-68 to reach 17 under par, enough for a two-stroke victory that saw him rise to the top of the Road to Mallorca Rankings. Law ultimately finished second in the season long Rankings to JC Ritchie, securing his card on the DP World Tour.
It was Christofer Blomstrand, winner of the Scottish Challenge two weeks ago, who prevailed the year before that, the Swede joining a group of his compatriots that have prevailed in Finland, including the winner of the first ever edition, Klas Eriksson.
Kim Koivu was the first Finnish player to ever win the event, coming out on top of a play-off against Robert MacIntyre in 2018. Lauri Ruuska joined him five years later, shooting a 59 on his way to the title. Home favourite Tapio Pulkkanen will be hoping to add his name to that list this year on home soil, as he chases his second title of the year and a return to Golf’s Global Tour.
Nordic Golf Representation
The Nordic Golf League is an official Satellite Tour of the HotelPlanner Tour, and has been producing top players from the Nordic countries that have gone on to win both events on the Road to Mallorca and the DP World Tour. There are currently four players from Nordic countries in the top 15 of the Rankings, with Denmark’s Hamish Brown currently highest at third, followed by the Swedish duo of Christofer Blomstrand and 2025 Nordic Golf League Order of Merit winner Adam Wallin at fifth and seventh respectively. Finland’s Pulkkanen currently sits at tenth.
The Finn is one of two winners this season, alongside Blomstrand, to have come from the Nordic Golf League, as they look to progress on to Golf’s Global Tour. There are 38 players from Nordic countries in the field this week, who will be looking for a strong finish not too far from home. These include big names, such as former DP World Tour winner Kalle Samooja, and less known names, like Konsta Mattsson, who came through a 58-for-1 Monday qualifier to get into this week’s event.
