Anssi Kankkonen

rdf:langString Anssi Kankkonen

rdf:langString Anssi Kankkonen

rdf:langString Anssi Kankkonen

rdf:langString Anssi Kankkonen (born 11 October 1968) is a Finnish professional golfer who played on the European Tour. Kankkonen was born in Lahti, the son of former Olympic ski jumping champion Veikko Kankkonen, and followed in his father's footsteps winning a team competition in the Finnish Championships with the Lahti Ski Club team in 1985, before turning to golf. As an amateur, he represented Finland at the 1990 Eisenhower Trophy. He turned professional in 1990 and played on the Swedish Golf Tour before joining the Challenge Tour. Kankkonen recorded his first Challenge Tour win at the 1995 SIAB Open, and almost won another tournament back-to-back, losing a playoff to Thomas Bjørn at the Himmerland Open. He played on the 1996 European Tour but recorded only one top-10, at the English Open, and returned to the Challenge Tour in 1997 where he won two tournaments, the Alianca UAP Challenge in Portugal after triumphing in a three-way playoff, and the Rolex Trophy Pro-Am in Switzerland. He would have made it three but lost a playoff with Knud Storgaard in the season opener, the Ivory Coast Open. He finished fifth on the Challenge Tour ranking to re-join the European Tour in 1998. Kankkonen represented Finland at five World Cups (1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997) with a best finish of 19th together with Kalle Väinölä in 1995.