Sami Valimaki of Finland during a practice round ahead of The 152nd Open. | Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Olympic golfer Sami Valimaki did not hold back when discussing his mandatory service for the Finnish military.
Sami Valimaki is representing his native Finland at the Olympics this week, but he served his country in a much greater capacity before the Paris games.
Before turning professional in 2019, Valimaki spent six months in the Finnish military, a mandatory requirement for all male citizens. While there, he still had time to play golf and work on his game amid his training exercises, as he was a part of the sports division—the part of the army that allows athletes to continue to work on their craft in addition to their training. But when a reporter asked Valimaki about his specific role, the Finlander gave a rather blunt, morbid response.
“Shooting heads,” Valimaki said.
“We just train in big areas, and I was in the sports army, so I had a bit more, how would you say, like you need to be two weeks in, and then you have three or four days off, and even if I have some golf tournaments, I could still go there and be one week away. So it wasn’t that strict. So they made it easier for us.”
Valimaki added that his military experience did not affect his golf game too much. His results show that, too, as he went on to win the Oman Open in March 2020. He then claimed his second DP World Tour title last October in Qatar, which helped him secure a PGA Tour card for the 2024 season.
This year, Valimaki has struggled during his first year on the PGA Tour, missing 11 cuts while recording just one top-10: a solo second finish to Jake Knapp at the Mexico Open. But so far, at the Men’s Olympic Golf Competition, through 36 holes, Valimaki sits in a tie for 19th, along with Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, and Ludvig Åberg.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
