Out of the Cold

Winters can be long in Helsinki, Finland—long enough to explain why so many Scandinavians are dangerous in virtual golf. It may also help explain how Kim Koivu won the first qualifier of the NEXT Tour World Series last week and pocketed $30,000—more than he earned in the past five years on the HotelPlanner Tour. But Koivu’s story is far more interesting than a single big payday.

Koivu came to golf late. He didn’t pick up a club until age 16, but within a few years he had enrolled at Brevard College, a small Division III program in North Carolina. As a freshman and sophomore, he won four college tournaments before transferring to Georgia Southern. He wasn’t an immediate force on the roster, but by his senior year he broke through, winning the Sun Belt Conference Championship and earning All-Conference honors.

Ten years after first taking up the game, Koivu turned professional. His arrival was explosive: in a co-sanctioned event between the China Tour and HotelPlanner Tour (then the Challenge Tour), he blitzed Yulongwan Golf Club with a closing 64 to win the Colorful Yunnan Belt & Road Classic. He held off big-hitting American Charlie Saxon, who started the day one back and birdied four of his first seven holes. Koivu started the day five-under through five. "I was like 'what is going on here?'" Koivu said at the time. After the win, Koivu said he never expected success to come so quickly. 

Koivu dominated the HotelPlanner Tour for the rest of 2018, adding two more titles and earning an automatic promotion to the DP World Tour. Between the Challenge Tour and DP World Tour that season, he made more than €180,000 and looked like Europe’s next breakout star.

Then golf happened.

The years that followed brought missed cuts, a hand injury, burnout, and lost status. “For quite a long time I’ve had feelings about this sport that I haven’t enjoyed playing or practicing,” Koivu told a Finnish golf outlet in 2019. He continued to play the HotelPlanner Tour on past exemptions, but he wasn’t the same player.

This season, Koivu played 12 HotelPlanner Tour events, made four cuts, and posted a season-best T8 at the Challenge de España. His total earnings were just over €11,000—likely far less than he spent to compete. In the past five years, he earned €21,885 on the HotelPlanner Tour, not even half of what he won in that first victory in China.

But this fall brought a hint of momentum. After advancing through First Stage of Q-School, he cruised through Second Stage with rounds of 63 and 67 on the weekend to finish T2. He finally had some wind at his back. With Final Stage beginning only days later, the timing should have favored him.

Instead, Koivu broke par in just one of four rounds and missed the four-round cut by 10 shots—28 strokes behind the leader. It was the kind of whiplash that can send players into post–Q-School depression, the kind of disappointment that convinces many to walk away. Another year of hoping. Another year of waiting.

The NEXT Golf Tour’s World Series, however, offers a different path. Its champion earns a DP World Tour start and six HotelPlanner Tour starts for 2026. Koivu has been a steady contender in his two seasons on the NEXT Tour. He’s earned $63,208 there over the past two seasons—income that has kept him afloat.

Season 4 couldn’t have arrived at a better moment.

In the first virtual qualifier, played at Valderrama with a field of 579 players, Koivu played nearly flawless golf. He holed out from a bunker for eagle on the par-5 11th and added three more birdies to reach 9-under through 17. A missed par putt at the last dropped him into a tie with fellow Finn Nikke Tyry, and for a moment, Koivu feared he had let the win slip away. In a NEXT Tour scorecard playoff, though, his late birdie run proved decisive. One round in a simulator earned him more money than the past five years on the HotelPlanner Tour.

"Happy with the result and grateful for the opportunity to compete," Koivu wrote on Instagram about his NEXT victory. "Thank you all for the support."

Pro golf grinds most players down. Many fade away or run out of money. Koivu has endured and simulator competition has helped keep his career alive. Maybe it’s given him belief. Maybe it’s given him just enough runway to stay in the fight.

For Koivu, the NEXT Tour isn’t a novelty. It’s a lifeline. And this season is only getting started.

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