ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Sami Valimaki has always been a good shot.
With a stick and puck, as he once dreamed of playing in the NHL, like his cousin Juuso, until his native Finland selected him instead of its national golf team.
With a rifle, which was part of his mandatory, six-month national military service seven years ago.
And, of course, with his golf clubs. Those are his real breadwinners, as he proved Sunday at the RSM Classic, where the 27-year-old beat Max McGreevy by a shot to become Finland’s first PGA Tour winner.
“I just wanted to show the people it’s possible from there,” said Valimaki, who last year skipped this event, the final one of the FedExCup Fall, after the birth of his son, Max, a few weeks prior.
At the time, Valimaki was fighting to keep his card, which he earned last season via the DP World Tour.
“I was on the bubble with a newborn baby, so I kind of had new things in my life,” Valimaki said. “Of course I wanted to keep my card, but I just couldn’t [play]. … I needed to wait.”
Valimaki ended up finishing inside the top 125 with a couple places to spare, then parlayed his new lease into nine top-25s in 26 starts this season, including Sunday’s win and a runner-up at the World Wide Technology Championship earlier this fall. He finished No. 51 in the FedExCup, tops in the Aon Next 10, to secure starts in each of the first two signature events of next season. Valimaki has only logged two such starts in his first two years on the PGA Tour.
He also vaulted to a career-best 40th in the Official World Golf Ranking, locking up a spot in his first Masters once he finishes inside the top 50 at year’s end.
Valimaki’s first major start came at the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, less than two years after he turned pro. Valimaki, who measures a burly 6 feet, 2 inches, reckons he would’ve been a successful center on the ice, but as an elite golfer, he led Finland to the 2018 European Amateur Team Championship. That year, he began his national service, which included “shooting heads,” as he called it while speaking to reporters at last summer’s Olympics, and a two-week stint braving subzero temperatures in the middle of a forest while staying in nothing but a tent.
“It was minus 20, 25 degrees, of course in Celsius,” Valimaki said. “… I feel like that was a hard time over there.”
As a designated sportsman, though, Valimaki was afforded days – and sometimes a full week – where he could practice and even play in tournaments. He competed on the Nordic Golf League while still in training, and he turned pro before being officially discharged.
After winning in his pro debut on the Pro Golf Tour in Morocco in early 2019, Valimaki captured three more titles on the developmental tour before skipping the Challenge Tour and earning his DP World Tour card via Q-School. In just his fifth start on DPWT, he prevailed in Oman, the second-to-last tournament before the pandemic suspended the season. Valimaki’s second DPWT triumph, at the 2023 Qatar Masters, bolstered his 12th-place finish in the Race to Dubai and his promotion to the PGA Tour.
“I mean, my goal was kind of just to be DP World Tour player and win over there,” Valimaki said. “I did it in my fifth tournament over there, and after that I felt like that was it, that was kind of like to drive me. And then the opportunity in ’23 came up, and that kind of gave me the new motivation … get the win over here.”
Valimaki’s first brush with contention on the PGA Tour came at last year’s Mexico Open, where Valimaki’s drive on the 72nd hole came to rest against a boundary fence and forced him to take an unplayable. He ended up two shots back of winner Jake Knapp.
“I feel like that was in my hands, but then it kind of slipped away,” Valimaki said.
On Sunday at Sea Island, Valimaki began the round two clear of Patrick Rodgers and Michael Thorbjornsen. Neither Stanford product was a factor, while Valimaki posted a 4-under 66 with only one bogey. When he dropped the shot at the par-4 fifth, Valimaki shared the lead with Ricky Castillo, who went out in 7-under 28 before carding 63 and finishing third. McGreevy holed a 30-footer for birdie at the last to make Valimaki think a little coming down the stretch with the winds picking up. But the big Fin birdied the easy par-5 15th after hitting 3-wood onto the green with his second shot, then parred out for the title.
After holing his final putt, Valimaki kissed the face of his putter before embracing three buddies who flew in from Helsinki and were wearing Sami-inspired, green-and-orange polos.
“To be honest, it’s not the worst time of the year to escape from the Nordic,” said one of Valimaki’s friends. “So, enjoying some sun and incredibly lucky also that we got to see this. … He’s going to be over the moon today, enjoy with the boys, go to the Crabdaddy’s.”
“Crabdaddy’s,” added another mate, confirming the popular St. Simons Island seafood joint as the afterparty locale. “And maybe some pool action.”
Imagine Valimaki is pretty good at shooting pool, too.