Ryder Cup stars in Linna Golf Challenge Tour field

Former Ryder Cup star and five-time European Tour winner Jarmo Sandelin will play in the European Challenge Tour’s SK Golf Open at Linna Golf, August 6-9, 2009.

The Swede is actually returning to the country of his birth, having been born in Imatra, Finland, before moving to Stockholm as a child and later taking Swedish citizenship, but he still has a close affinity with Finland.

The 42-year-old, who was part of the European Ryder Cup team at Brookline in 1999, will join fellow European Tour winner Mikko Illonen at Linna Golf, widely regarded as one of the finest new courses in Europe and a member of the European Tour Courses portfolio.

“It is great that I managed to fit the SK Golf Challenge into my calendar. It’s always wonderful to visit Finland,” said Sandelin. “I have visited Linna before as a guest of Mikko Illonen and I liked the course a lot.”

Sandelin will not be the only former Ryder Cup player on show, as Englishman Peter Baker will also be treading the fairways of Linna. Baker celebrated three wins out of four, including a singles victory over current US captain Corey Pavin, at The Belfry in 1993, though he couldn’t prevent a US victory.

Linna Golf was designed by European Golf Design (the European Tour/IMG joint venture) and opened in 2006. The 6,624m (7,244 yard) course cuts through birch and pine forest bordering a 7km long lake on the historic Vanajanlinna Hotel estate, 100km north of Helsinki.

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