Suffice it to say that Thursday (Aug. 11) will be a big day for former University of Denver golfer Espen Kofstad.
Let us count the ways:
— He’ll celebrate his 29th birthday.
— He’ll represent his native Norway as golf returns to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years.
— Coincidentally, the Rio de Janeiro course on which he’ll be competing for the Olympics — and which will be used for the Aug. 17-20 women’s tournament — was designed by a fellow DU alum, course architect Gil Hanse. (READ MORE)
“Maybe I can get someone to take a picture of the two DU alums on the Olympic course,” Hanse said in a story DU published recently.
Hanse’s work at the Olympic course has drawn praise.
“The Rio Games might well be controversial, but there can be little second-guessing about the quality of the golf course,” wrote Bradley S. Klein in Golfweek. “If there were a gold medal for course architecture, Hanse would win it in a runaway.”
Kofstad, the European Challenge Tour’s top money winner in 2012, secured his Olympic berth with a win a month ago in the D+D Real Slovakia Challenge (READ MORE). It was his third Challenge Tour victory.
The men’s Olympic tournament, featuring 60 players, will consist of four rounds of stroke play, from Thursday through Sunday. It will be the first Olympic golf competition since the 1904 Games in St. Louis.
Kofstad will tee off at 5:14 a.m. (MT) for Thursday’s first round.
The American representatives in Rio for the men’s tournament are Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed and Matt Kuchar.
