On July 2, the 2011 Finnish Hickory Championship was held at Pickala Golf Club, about 35 km west of Helsinki. Antti Paatola tells us that a small but strong Swedish team swept almost all the honors. Jörgen Isberg won with a 77, eight shots clear of second place. As Jörgen also had the best net results, he also won the Finnish Hickory Open trophy, the oldest hickory trophy in Finland. The ladies champion was Swedish golfer Britta Nord who returned to Finland to defend her 2010 title.
Mika Hjorth claimed the championship of the 2011 Finnish Hickory Tour. The tour has six events played on the best courses in Finland. 2011 marked the sixth year of the tour. The final event has double the point value and guarantees excitement until the very end.
Mika Hjorth has been the best hickory player in Finland for a long time and this year was no exception. Most years he has won the scratch division and so he did this year by a wide margin. In the finalevent of the year, he won the scratch division and was second in the handicap division. This meant that he also won the handicap division in this year’s tour. This is the first time anyone has done so.
Congratulations to Mika and to all Finnish hickory players.