Now ranked 878th in the world, Finland’s Kalle Samooja is hoping to return to where it all began this week, as the former LIV Golfer and Cleeks GC member competes on the HotelPlanner Tour (formerly the Challenge Tour) in northern Spain.

Interestingly, Samooja opted out of playing in this week’s $2 million International Series Japan event, choosing instead to accept an invite to compete in the more familiar surroundings of the HotelPlanner Tour and the Challenge de España.

The ninth event of the season on the 2025 Road To Mallorca sees the HotelPlanner Tour touchdown in mainland Europe, and this week it is being hosted by Fontanals Golf Club in Girona, a former DP World Tour Qualifying School stop. With a prize pot of €300,000 on offer, it’s a far cry from the $20 million purse Samooja would be used to from his time on LIV Golf.

The Finn graduated from the HotelPlanner Tour in 2018 after winning the Hainan Open and comfortably retained his card on the DP World Tour for the following five consecutive seasons, never finishing lower than 85th in the Race to Dubai Rankings. His time on the DP World Tour was highlighted by a maiden victory at the Porsche European Open in 2022, before his path took him to LIV.

Martin Kaymer Cleeks GC LIV Golf

Martin Kaymer Cleeks GC LIV Golf

Flying Finn to LIV “The guys that aren’t happy about it just don’t say anything”

He played the 2024 LIV Golf League season for Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks GC, having earned his spot through the LIV Golf Promotions event in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2023, and took home a tidy $2,132,158 in 2024 alone – despite his best result being a tie for 14th at LIV Golf Singapore.

After a full season with Kaymer, Richard Bland and Adrian Meronk on the Cleeks, Kalle narrowly missed out on retaining his playing rights in the Saudi-backed league, finishing 49th in the Individual Rankings — one spot inside the Drop Zone. That, however, didn’t seem to be enough for team captain Kaymer to re-sign him, instead opting for Denmark’s Frederik Kjettrup.

The 37-year-old also competed in a handful of events on the Asian Tour’s International Series to maintain his Official World Golf Ranking throughout 2024, even teeing it up earlier this season in India and Macau, although he never finished better than a tie for 14th. He held a full card for the 2025 International Series as a result of finishing in the LIV Golf Drop Zone in 2024.

Samooja isn’t the only LIV Golf connection at the Challenge de España — current Fireballs GC member Luis Masaveu is also in the field, having arrived straight from his tie for 20th at LIV Golf Korea.

Fittingly, the Challenge de España this week has served as a launchpad for many a player. A certain Brooks Koepka claimed the title in 2013 — just two weeks before earning automatic promotion to what was then the European Tour — and says his time on the HotelPlanner Tour was “the most fun I’ve ever had playing golf”.

The rest, as they say, is history.

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