Kristoffer Reitan’s journey from being a promising junior golfer mentioned alongside Viktor Hovland to securing his first world-ranked victory has been anything but predictable.
His triumph at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final wasn’t just a win – it marked his comeback to the DP World Tour. Despite missing a short putt at the final hole of Alcanada Golf Club, luck was on his side when Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen missed a crucial 3-footer that could have forced a playoff. “I got a little bit of a gift there,” Reitan admitted after the tournament.
The Norwegian’s path to professional golf took an unexpected turn. Back in 2015, with Hovland as his caddie, he reached the U.S. Junior Amateur quarterfinals. Though he had signed with the University of Texas, his status as a top-40 amateur led him to skip college altogether. “I just felt like I was in a place where my level (of golf) was getting better and another four years of amateur golf wasn’t as exciting to me as it probably should’ve been,” he explained in 2017.
Name
Events
Top 10
Money
Anders Albertson
40
1
$556,905
We can’t help but feel excited seeing another Nordic talent finally breaking through after years of struggle.
His early pro career wasn’t smooth sailing. After getting through Q-School in 2018 and making history as Norway’s first-born player in the U.S. Open, he struggled in his 2019 DPWT debut. He bounced around different tours until landing on the Challenge Tour this year, where his season started rough with five missed cuts in six events.
But September brought change. He entered the finale with five straight top-20 finishes, and his opening rounds of 65-64 in Mallorca set the stage for something special. The tournament’s drama unfolded when Neergaard-Petersen, leading by four through 11 holes, stumbled with three bogeys in his final seven.
The victory launched Reitan from 36th to seventh in the final points standings, securing his DPWT card. Other graduates included Conor Purcell, Jack Senior, Alexander Levy, and Lucas Bjerregaard, who grabbed the final spot thanks to some category shuffling.
“It’s just bizarre,” Reitan reflected on his achievement. “I never thought that this would be a possibility like a year ago, or even just a few months ago. … I’m looking forward to [returning to the DPWT] immensely. I’m really happy to be back.”
