OWGR: Part V of the Obscure golf nations’ top ranked golfer

Iceland

As far as Icelandic spelling goes, I think I lucked out with this name. Gudmundur Kristjansson holds the title of top golfer from this nation of just ~364,000 people. For reference, that’s just larger than Anaheim, California.

There are definitely more golfers in Anaheim, too. Handball, hockey, and soccer are among the favorite sports in Iceland.

It is impressive, relatively speaking, that Iceland has 11 players listed in the OWGR. Two are in the top 1,000: No. 631 Haraldur Magnus and No. 596 Kristjansson.

It’s one thing to crack the rankings as a lifelong minor-leaguer as we saw on the last slide with Willy Pumarol.

Kristjansson could be toward the beginning of his trajectory. He racked up nearly every junior championship he could in Iceland and did well playing throughout Europe, including finishing fourth in the European Men’s Team Championship.

Kristjansson earned a scholarship to come to the US to play for East Tennessee State University. The Buccaneers are known for attracting European talent and once nearly signed Rory McIlroy.

Kristjansson played in every event for all four years at ETSU. As a senior, he won two tournaments, finished sixth at NCAA Regionals and made an ace at the NCAA Championship. Kristjansson set the school’s 54-hole record (199) during the regular season.

He turned pro in 2015 and made his first start in an OWGR-counting event in 2017 in the Nordic Golf League. He got a taste of the European Tour that same year where he MC’d at the Nordea Masters.

In 2018, he made 16 of 20 cuts on the NGL and recorded five top-10s (albeit no top-threes).

Kristjansson finally broke through for a win in his first start of 2019. He shared another tournament victory later in the year, which helped him to finish top five in the Order of Merit and earn some Challenge Tour starts in 2019 and 2020.

He’s made four of eight cuts on the Challenge Tour, including a ninth-place finish at the Stone Irish Challenge.

Kristjansson was set to be back on the NGL again in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic. He hasn’t quite had the luck he’s looking for at European Tour Q School over the years, but his incremental progress shows the 27-year-old could continue to raise the bar for golf in Iceland. He could even represent his country in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics if he keeps climbing.

GOLF IN ICELAND

There are 65 golf courses in Iceland, although only 15 are 18 holes. The country sits up high on the globe at 65 degrees latitude, meaning you can golf all day and into the night. You’ll just want to high tail it out of there when the cold, dark winter rolls around.

These courses aren’t hosting big-time tournaments, but they sure do look pretty. Lava fields, mountains, and the Atlantic Ocean provide picturesque views. Many courses are links-style layouts that pay homage to golf’s birthplace, Scotland.

The Golf Union of Iceland was established in 1942 and currently lists 16,054 registered players. There’s also the Icelandic Golf Association, which lists 40,000 club members scattered around the country’s courses.

Top100GolfCourses.com ranks Keilir as Iceland’s top course. It’s located in the coastal town of Hafnarfjordur and has everything you want in terms of unique, breathtaking scenery.

Iceland attracts its share of tourists, no doubt. With that said, there is a significant base of native golfers in a country hungry for athletics of all sorts. That gives me reason to believe that it may not be long before we see an Icelandic golfer find pro success on a global level.