
Espen Kofstad
Norway (NOR)
He sealed his Olympic qualification in the most dramatic fashion on the European Challenge Tour, beating Romain Langasque on the second playoff hole to win the D+D REAL Slovakia Challenge on the final day of the qualification period for Rio 2016. Started playing at age five at a golf course in Sweden, a 15-minute boat ride from the family’s summer house in Norway. His sporting career could have taken a different path however if he had followed in his mother’s footsteps, as she was a European skiing champion in the 1970s. Instead, he caught the golf bug and competed regularly in amateur competitions at home before furthering his golf education at the University of Denver in the United States. Won the European Challenge Tour Rankings in 2012 but has been plagued with back problems since 2013, which forced him to remodel his swing.