The likes of Josh Hill, Toby Bishop and Arjun Gupta regularly mop up tournament wins on the amateur circuit in the UAE, and now there’s another name to add to that trio in the form of Viggo Sørensen. The UAE resident, who represents Denmark but was born in Paris, has only really made a name for himself on the golf scene in the last couple of years after turning his sole focus to the sport following surgery that prevented him for proceeding with his promising wakeboarding career, where he finished second in his Under 10’s National Championship. Despite his injury, Sørensen’s golf game has gone from strength to strength from winning the Emirates Golf Federation’s (EGF) Junior Order of Merit in 2020 before sealing the Men’s equivalent the following season, beating some of the best golfers in the country along the way. Worldwide Golf’s Thomas Wragg caught up with the 17-year-old, who plays off +3.6, to find out more about his love for the game and what drives the promising youngsters in the UAE.
Worldwide Golf: Where did you first learn to play golf?
Viggo Sørensen: I was born in France but shortly after we moved to Africa, which is where I first started playing golf with my dad every once in a while. I had one little club and it was tiny 7 iron and I played a bit just for fun. We moved back to Denmark before making the move over to Jumeirah Islands in Dubai, which isn’t far from Emirates Golf Club. That was the first golf club I went to in the UAE, so I would go with my dad there from time to time. Then I had a hip injury so I stopped wakeboarding because it wasn’t good for me and then I really just concentrated on golf.
What’s the story with your wakeboarding injury?
Viggo: I did a lot of wakeboarding when I was growing up, I was second in the nationals one year for the under-10 category. I was doing quite well but then I had the operation on my hip and the doctor said I shouldn’t continue competing in impact sports. I have this growth disorder called slipped capital femoral epiphysis, basically the cap on your femur slips down because the femur grows faster and you have it pushed back up in place and they put a big screw through your leg. It kind of hinders my golf but I just work around it.
How old were you when you realised that you were pretty good at golf?
Viggo: Not long ago, I think it was just three years ago. I played a season of junior events just for fun and then I did another season and won the EGF Junior Order of Merit so I thought that I could probably do well at this! The year I won the Junior Order of Merit I started off with a win in the first event and that just gave me a load of confidence to keep pushing on. I obviously played well throughout the season and got the points to finish top of the pack.
The following season you entered the men’s version and won that as well. How did that feel?
Viggo: Before that season I realised that not many of the players were going to be playing the juniors again because basically all the boys were 16 or 17, so I decided to challenge myself and compete with the men. I won the first event at Montgomerie and I thought that I could go for this; I managed to get points on the board at every event after that, played well and got the win.
You seem to get on well with the likes of Josh Hill, Arjun Gupta and Toby Bishop. How important is it for you to have a friendship group like that to keep pushing each other out on the course?
Viggo: It’s great! Off the course, we have so much fun and it’s really good that we’re able to compete with each other and push each other. Obviously, when we get on course it’s a bit different but we’re still good friends. I think it’s just a great group, we always respect each other.
Who are you coached by in Dubai?
Viggo: I’m coached by Michael Sweenie (Senior Teaching Professional at the Peter Cowen Academy). I think it’s our third season working together and he’s a great guy. I wouldn’t call him a ‘swing coach’, he’s more like a performance coach. For him it’s about focusing on scoring rather than how it looks on the course, it’s all about getting the score as low as possible and making sure that my practices are specific to what I want to improve in my game.
What is the strongest and weakest part of your game?
Viggo: I’m very strong off the tee, my putting is pretty solid as well. My weakest point would be my short game, it used to be pretty good, but I had a growth spurt and I have been struggling with it. I’ve worked really hard with my coach on it and I think it’s getting to a level where it’s quite acceptable now.
Aside from playing in the UAE, do you travel to play across the world?
Viggo: This year I’ve started travelling a bit more to play events. I flew to Bahrain twice and the last two summers I played a bunch of events in Europe, including the German Boys and a couple more tournaments in Denmark. The German Boys was tough, it was a long course at that time for me and I just wanted to get three solid rounds under my belt. We played one course twice and the other once, I didn’t really fancy the course that we played once in, I was 5 over par on the second day, but on the last day I managed to get one under par bogey free. I think that was the second-best round of the day. I don’t think I ended it well but I was pleased with how I played in my first proper amateur event, it was a very good experience
What are your targets for the next couple of years?
Viggo: I hope to go to the university next season (2022) in the States and hopefully when the MENA Tour opens I’ll play in a few events on there. This season I want to get a WAGR Ranking, it’s one of my big goals just to help me secure a good college. I’ve played a couple of those events this year including the Bahrain AM where I finished second, but you need to win the event to secure ranking on the WAGR, so hopefully I can tick one off soon.
Do you think you’ve got the game to compete with some of those guys on the MENA Tour?
Viggo: I think I’d be up there, but it’s more about getting the experience and playing in the same conditions as to what I hope to play in the future, be more competitive and get to play on some really nice courses. Of course, you’d want to perform as well as possible, but it’s just to get experience and try to compete for three rounds.
Your recently played in your first professional event at the King Hamad Trophy – how did you find that experience?
Viggo: It was amazing. It’s a different sort of pressure because it’s a pro event, you could feel the atmosphere with all the pros, it was mixed with a few amateurs but the course was really good, and everything is serious from the get-go. It just puts a lot of pressure on you but I think I did well and I was proud of myself.
How far do you think you can go in the game?
Viggo: I want to turn professional one day in the future. Hopefully, if things go well then I think that’s what I want to do as a career. I’d like to get into a good university, do well there, build a lot of experience and get to the point where I feel like I’ve got the tools to do it. Away from golf, I’m quite good academically, I think I want to do finance or economics at university just as a backup if anything goes wrong, but I think the main goal is golf for the future.
