Mikko Ilonen (born 18 December 1979) is a retired Finnish professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

er who played on the

European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

, winning five times. He is considered to be the most successful golfer from Finland.

Career

Ilonen was born in

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. He won the 2000 Amateur Championship, and turned pro in 2001. He played mainly on the

, where he won five events. He won his first professional tournament at the 2007 Indonesia Open, an event co-sanctioned by the

and

Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf professional golf tours, tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on ...

. He was the first Finn to win a European Tour event and to feature in the top 100 of the

Official World Golf Ranking The Official World Golf Ranking is a system for rating the performance level of professional golfers. It was started in 1986. The rankings are based on a player's position in individual tournaments (i.e. not pairs or team events) over a "rolling ...

. In June 2013, Ilonen won the Nordea Masters event in Sweden for the second time in his career and third tour level victory overall. In June 2014, Ilonen won the Irish Open at

Fota Island Fota (statutory spelling Foaty; ) is an island in Cork Harbour, County Cork, Ireland, just north of the larger island of Great Island. It is the home of Fota Wildlife Park—the only such zoo or animal park (besides Dublin Zoo) in the country— ...

in Cork. Ilonen led the tournament from start to finish and ended up one shot clear of Italian

Edoardo Molinari Edoardo Molinari (born 11 February 1981) is an Italian professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, where he is a three-time winner. He was also the 2005 U.S. Amateur champion; 2009 Challenge Tour Rankings leader; winner, with his brother ...

. Ilonen's best major championship finish was tied 7th at the 2014 PGA Championship. In 2014 he finished the season in a career best 18th on the European Tour Order of Merit. In March 2019, Ilonen announced his retirement from tour golf.

Amateur wins

*1999 West of Ireland Amateur *2000

The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship (sometimes referred to as the British Amateur or British Amateur Championship outside the UK) is a golf tournament which has been held annually in the United Kingdom since 1885 except during the two World Wars, and in 19 ...

Professional wins (5)

European Tour wins (5)

¹Co-sanctioned by the

European Tour playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur * European Boys' Team Championship (representing Finland): 1996, 1997 *

Jacques Léglise Trophy The Jacques Léglise Trophy is an annual amateur boys' team golf competition between Great Britain & Ireland and the Continent of Europe. It was first played in 1977, as a one-day match before the Boys Amateur Championship, but since 1996 it has ...

(representing the Continent of Europe): 1997 (winners) * European Youths' Team Championship (representing Finland): 1998, 2000 *

Eisenhower Trophy The Eisenhower Trophy (World Men's Amateur Team Championships) is the biennial World Amateur Team Championship for men organized by the International Golf Federation. Since the tournament was first played in 1958 Eisenhower Trophy, 1958, it is nam ...

(representing Finland):

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

* Bonallack Trophy (representing Europe): 2000 (winners) * St Andrews Trophy (representing the Continent of Europe): 2000 Professional * Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe):

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

(winners) *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

(representing Finland):

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

Official websiteClient page at his management, Sportyard
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilonen, Mikko Finnish male golfers European Tour golfers Olympic golfers for Finland Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Lahti 1979 births Living people 21st-century Finnish sportsmen