Marcus Kinhult

He qualifies for The Open off the 2019 Race to Dubai standings.
The son of a golf professional, Kinhult started playing the game at 6 years old and showed huge potential, representing Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup in 2014 and Sweden at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics. He won the 2015 Junior Invitational and the prestigious Lytham Trophy by eight shots in May 2015. Kinhult plays at Skafto Golfklubb, the same club as five-time European Tour winner Barry Lane and Joel Sjoholm.
Kinhult grabbed the golfing headlines in June 2015 when he led the European Tour's Nordea Masters at the halfway stage, after opening with rounds of 68 and 67. Only 18 years old, he ultimately finished 33rd in what was his second European Tour appearance. He was the third amateur to lead a European Tour event after 36 holes, and the first since Ireland's Shane Lowry at 2009 Irish Open, which Lowry went on to win.
In late 2015 he entered the European Tour Qualifying School. After finishing 3rd in the second stage, he led after three rounds at the final stage, eventually settling for the 17th card. Though he had considered going to college in America, he turned professional after his success at PGA Catalunya Resort.
2016 Notes: Kinhult had a disappointing first season on the European Tour and only made two cuts. Halfway through the season, he dropped down to the Challenge Tour where his best performance was at the Ras Al Khaimah Golf Challenge, where he held a two-shot lead heading into the final round. He eventually finished T-4th. Having entered the tournament in 68th place on the Road to Oman he needed a top-three finish to qualify for the Challenge Tour Grand Finals. So he finished 5th in the Road to Oman.
2017 Notes: Marcus had better success on the Challenge Tour in 2017. He had 5 top-five finishes, earned a career-best 2nd at the NBO Golf Classic Grand Final, and finished 5th in the Road to Oman, which gained him his European Tour card for 2018.
2018 Notes: Played in 27 European Tour events making 20 cuts with three top-10 finishes. Was 3rd at the Qatar Masters, two shots back of winner Eddie Pepperell. His next top-ten was T-5th at the French Open, two shots back of winner Alex Noren. That finish got him into the Open Championship were he finished T-61st in his first major. Was T-4th at the Portugal Masters. Was 49th in the Race to Dubai he earned euros830,176.
2019 Notes: Played in 24 European Tour events making 17 cuts with two top-ten finishes. Was 12th in the Race to Dubai. Claimed his first win on the European Tour in dramatic fashion, responding to back-to-back bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes of the final round by birdieing the final two holes to seal a one-shot victory over Eddie Pepperell and Robert MacIntyre at the Betfred British Masters. At the Nedbank Golf Challenge lost a playoff to Tommy Fleetwood.
2020 Notes: Played in 17 European Tour events making 10 cuts with three top-ten finishes. Was 59th in the Race to Dubai with earnings of euro433,013. Was T-7th at the Qatar Masters, T-6th at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, three shots back of winner Aaron Rai. Was T-10th at the BMW PGA Championship. Ended his year with a T-32nd at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
2021 Notes: Best finish T-60th at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. After the winter desert swing, he took some time off and went early to Spain in April to get ready to rejoin the tour. Kinhult was in the middle of a facetime conversation with his partner Agnes when he suffered several seizures and was taken urgently to hospital where he was later diagnosed with epilepsy. He took not to stress about it, took some time off, and played his first event at the end of June, missing the cut at the Halmstad Challenge. He played the next week at the Dubai Duty-Free Irish Open and also missed the cut. He feels he is on the road to recovery and is about 80% ready to go.