| Pairs getting bigger is just Finn-tastic |
| Wednesday, 21 February 2007 | |
 The world’s largest tournament for club golfers, the International Pairs, has welcomed a new member to its fold after Finland became the latest country to join the global competition.
Easy Golf, a company run by golf professionals Ville Rintala and Krister Nisukangas on the outskirts of Helsinki, has been awarded the Finnish licence and becomes the second Scandinavian country to join International Pairs following in the footsteps of Iceland. Rintala and Nisukangas, who specialise in organising golf events and clinics across the country, hope that they will attract 2,000 competitors to the competition in their first year and the duo hope this will increase to up to 9,000 players by 2010. Cees Chevalier, who runs International Pairs Europe and issued the licence said: “Golf is extremely popular in Finland.
“There are around 106 golf courses and 102,000 people playing the game in the country and they are very enthusiastic.
“To give you an example, Easy Golf produced a mailing to all the golf clubs in which they introduced the International Pairs concept, and a stunning 25% of all golf clubs responded and want to run a qualifying event at their club.
“The company has already established a media partnership with the leading newspaper in Finland and also with the leading golf magazine in the country promoting the tournament formula.” Ross Honey, founder and managing director of International Pairs, said: “It’s our aim to have as many countries as possible playing in the tournament and it’s tremendous news that Finland has signed up. “Golf is thriving in Scandinavia and having them take part can only endorse the worldwide reputation of International Pairs.” Conceived in 1998, International Pairs has grown over the years to become a global event attracting competitors from as-far-a-field as Columbia, Guatemala and Russia. Last month (January) saw the appointment of its first licence holders for America and the Philippines while the magnificent Fairmont St Andrews will be the venue for the fourth International Pairs World Final later this year in July. International Pairs is run in association with VisitScotland, which has backed the tournament for the last five years, and the national Scottish tourist body has committed to be the tournament’s main sponsor until at least 2008. |