Sami Valimaki Fires a 62 — Confidence Rising in FedExCup Push!

Sami Valimaki posts a brilliant 62, boosting his confidence as he chases both his PGA TOUR card and a late-season surge into the Top 60 and the Signature Events.

In this interview he explains:

🎯 Why driving accuracy has transformed his last three weeks

🔥 How today’s low round gives him belief heading into the weekend

👶 Why he skipped this event last year after the birth of his child

📱 What it was like following the bubble numbers from home

🇫🇮 How he first got into golf growing up in Finland

❄️ Practicing indoors and traveling south during long Finnish winters

🏌️‍♂️ His path from Nokia River Golf to competing on the PGA TOUR

A confident, composed Valimaki looks ready for a big finish.

Second round 62. How are you feeling heading into the weekend? Yeah, of course. Of course. Nice to play. Good good first two rounds. Uh just like in Mexico, you had a good round that spurted a good finish. What’s a good round do for do for you like this? Um yeah, of course. I mean, my my main goal was for the last three weeks just to keep my card of course now bit more confident freely. So try to make it for the top 60 and get those signature events. What have you been what’s been clicking in particular these last few weeks that’s allowed you to have kind of this uptick in form and scores. I feel like just getting better off the tea like even not the not the longest one but I was still pretty much hitting every T-shot on the fairway and I feel like that gives me the opportunity. And I know last year you were you didn’t play this week but you were on the bubble. Did could you explain kind of why you didn’t play and what you had going on? Uh I had a baby that time so I I mean I could probably play but I feel like I’m not in that kind of mindset to come here so it was easier to wait home and we’ll see how it’s going to go. Were you following the numbers at all? Oh of course yeah. Otherwise I would be lying. I actually closed my phone in Sunday night over there. shot like okay can’t just watch it the plane no go ahead the reason I wanted to ask you a couple questions is that my mother’s family was from Finland and so I don’t know much about it she’s been to Finland once but all of those people are long And I know in Finland what you do is cross country skiing, some downhill skiing, um some ski jumping. And how did you get to golf? Yeah, I have to say my my father he used to play golf or still play a lot and I feel like that’s he took me to range and then I actually two really good friends who started in the same time golfing and I feel like we used all the summers in the golf course. So that was why I kind of started. Well, you have long days in the summer. Yeah, we do. Yeah. What do you do in the winter to practice? I mean, of course, you can do a little bit indoors or then you have to travel somewhere in the warmer places, Spain or something. Yeah. Okay. Um, do you have a teacher who helped you like grip setup, posture, stance, all that? Uh, yeah. I had a before my now coach uh I had a two Finnish guys when like in my local local golf club and then I had another one a little bit later on. And what was your local golf club? Nokia River Golf. Okay. That’s where the phone company is, right? It is. Yeah. Well, at least you’re from some place that people have heard of. Yeah. Um when you came to the United States what five years ago for the first time? Is that right? Yeah, probably. Yeah. Yeah. How did you Was it what you expected? Was it different than you expected? I mean it’s a big country. I mean there is a lot of kind of like I must for me coming from Europe I feel like all the states are different country even they kind of under the same but I feel like here is so many different places where you can go and have you met many Finnish people here uh yeah I mean not from here but my few few sponsors and f friends came for the this week so it’s nice nice to see them over here. Well, there’s a group down in uh oh, it’s north of Oka Ron and my mother’s family was from the upper peninsula of Michigan. So, I know there are a bunch of things up there. Anyway, thank you. Thank you. So, you know, I didn’t truck yesterday.