Kristoffer Broberg will serve as inspiration for the high quality field assembled at the sixth edition of the VACON Open, which this week returns to Kytäjä Golf Club.
Broberg captured his debut Challenge Tour title in 2012 at the Hyvinkää layout, which is hosting the €170,000 tournament for the third successive season.
The Swede romped to victory by six shots, before promptly doubling his tally of titles in the Norwegian Challenge the following week.
On only his fifth Challenge Tour appearance at the Rolex Trophy a fortnight later, Broberg duly won again to secure automatic promotion to The European Tour in record time.
Fast forward two years, and Broberg is currently sitting in 24th place in The Race to Dubai, thanks chiefly to his top three finishes in the Irish Open and the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.
Broberg’s exploits should serve to inspire the likes of Pierre Relecom, William Harrold, Thomas Linard, Oliver Farr, Antonio Hortal and Jens Fahrbring, the seven 2014 Challenge Tour champions who have made the trip to Finland’s Uusimaa region, approximately 50 kilometres north of the capital city Helsinki.
A sizeable home contingent will be led by Jaako Makitalo and Peter Erofejeff, who is bidding to return to The European Tour.
Erofejeff lost his playing privileges on the top tier last season, but after an encouraging return to form last week in Norway – where he finished in a share of 11th place – the Helsinki native is hopefully of maintaining his momentum at a venue he knows very well.
He said: “It’s a very nice course and it’s always in excellent condition, so I’m really looking forward to the tournament. It’s always nice to play in your home country. I’ll have my fiancée and my baby boy there with me, as well as my father, so it should be a nice week.
“It’s a little way out of Helsinki, but I’m hoping we’re going to get some decent crowds coming along to watch. I’m sure they’ll get to see some birdies, because the scoring is usually pretty low. Hopefully I can make a few birdies of my own.
“I feel like my game is slowly getting there. I made a few stupid mistakes last week in Norway which was frustrating, but I still played better than I have for a while so I’m hopeful of having another good result this week.”
