An ESPEN Highlight

Golf rejoins the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this month, and the only competitor with a Colorado connection won’t be representing the United States, but Norway.

Oslo native Espen Kofstad, a star on the University of Denver men’s team (2007-2010) who currently plays on the European Tour, earned a spot in the Games of the XXI Olympiad by winning the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge July 10 at Penati Golf Resort in Senica. With the deadline to qualify for the XXXI Games falling right after the tournament, Kofstad had to win to get in. An 8-under-par 64 in the final round put him at 17-under for the tournament and made him the leader in the clubhouse, but France’s Romain Langasque forced a playoff, which Kofstad won with a birdie on the second hole.

“I left it late, until the last hole,” Kofstad said after the round, “but winning solves a lot of things, and I think it now has solved this one and got me into Rio.”

During his senior year (2009-2010), Kofstad recorded the third-best season scoring average ever for a Pioneer (71.26) while registering 22 rounds at par or lower—second-most in program history. The Olympics will mark the fourth time he has represented Norway in an international championship. He competed for the Eisenhower Trophy as an amateur in 2008 and 2010 and as a professional in the 2013 World Cup. 

“I’ve been going for it all year,” Kofstad said about qualifying for the Olympics. He ranks 52nd of the 60 golfers in the men’s field, where he will be Norway’s only representative. igfgolf.org

ALSO SEE: DU Grad Gil Hanse Designs Rio Olympic Course

This article appears in the August 2016 issue of Colorado AvidGolfer. Subscribe today!

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