Roope Kakko (born 13 February 1982) is a Finnish

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

Early life and career

Kakko was born in

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

, Finland. He started playing golf at the age of five. In 2004, Kakko became only the third amateur to win a tournament on the

Challenge Tour The Challenge Tour, currently titled as the HotelPlanner Tour for sponsorship reasons and also sometimes referred to as the European Challenge Tour, is the second-tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European To ...

, when he won his home event, the Volvo Finnish Open. The win earned him a Challenge Tour card for the following season; having turned professional later in 2004, he joined the Challenge Tour full-time. He was a regular on the tour for the next five seasons, although he did not win again, with a best finish on the money list of 27th in 2008, when he was twice a runner-up. His strong 2008 season gained Kakko entry into a small number of

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 ...

events and he capitalised on those opportunities by making successive top-10 finishes at the 2009

BMW Italian Open The Italian Open () is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. It was founded in 1925 and, except for 1933 and during World War II, was played annually until 1960. After an eleven-year hiatus, it returned in 1971 when it was one of fi ...

and 3 Irish Open. Despite these successes, his limited playing opportunities meant Kakko returned to the Challenge Tour full-time in 2010, but at the end of that season he came through the

Qualifying School In professional golf, the term qualifying school is used for the annual qualifying tournaments for leading golf tours such as the U.S.-based PGA and LPGA Tours and the European Tour. A fixed number of players in the event win membership of the ...

to secure full membership of the European Tour for the first time. In October 2013, Kakko won at the National Bank of Oman Golf Classic on the

. In August 2015, Kakko claimed his first victory on the European Tour at the

Madeira Islands Open - Portugal - BPI The Madeira Islands Open was a men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour played from 1993 to 2015 on Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal. History The tournament had one of the smallest prize funds on the tour (€600,000 in 20 ...

. It was a dual-ranking European and Challenge Tour event. In September 2024, Kakko won the final event of the

2024 Finnish Tour This page lists all Finnish Tour seasons from its inaugural season in 2002. Since its inception, many of the tournaments on the Finnish Tour schedule have been incorporated into the Nordic Golf League, one of the third-tier tours recognised by the ...

season, claiming the season-long Order of Merit title.

Personal life

Kakko is married to former

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

golfer

Minea Blomqvist Minea "Minni" Blomqvist, (born 12 March 1985 in Espoo, Finland) is a professional golfer who played on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour in the early 2000s. She won twice on the Ladies European Tour. Amateur career Blomqvist was a member of the Finnish N ...

; they have two children together.

Professional wins (8)

European Tour wins (1)

¹Dual-ranking event with the

Challenge Tour wins (3)

''*Note: The 2004 Volvo Finnish Open was shortened to 54 holes due to rain.''
¹Dual-ranking event with the

Challenge Tour playoff record (1–1)

Nordic Golf League wins (1)

Finnish Tour wins (4)

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Youths' Team Championship The European Youths' Team Championship was a European amateur team golf championship for men under 22 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1961. It was played every year until 1982, then every second year. It ...

(representing Finland): 2002 *

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...

(representing Finland):

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Professional *

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):

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kakko, Roope Finnish male golfers European Tour golfers Olympic golfers for Finland Golfers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Golfers from Espoo 1982 births Living people 21st-century Finnish sportsmen