Professional career

Nilsson was born in Karlstad

Karlstad

Karlstad is a city, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city had 61,685 inhabitants in 2010 out of a municipal total that during the first quarter 2010 was 84,885 inhabitants...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. He turned professional in 1999 with a plus 3 handicap. Nilsson played on the Challenge Tour

Challenge Tour

The Challenge Tour is the second tier men's professional golf tour in Europe. It is operated by the PGA European Tour and as with on the main European Tour and the European Seniors Tour, some of the events are played outside of Europe...

 full time since 2004, playing few events before then. His first event on the European Tour

PGA European Tour

The PGA European Tour is an organization which operates the three leading men's professional golf tours in Europe: the elite European Tour, the European Seniors Tour and the developmental Challenge Tour. Its headquarters are at Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey, England...

 was the 2005 Open Championship

The Open Championship

The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...

 where he missed the cut. His first full season on the European Tour was 2006, and his second in 2007. In 2008 he played on both the Challenge and European Tours with his best finish a runner-up to David Dixon

David Dixon (golfer)

David Dixon is an English professional golfer.Dixon was born in Bridgwater, Somerset, England. He turned professional in 2001....

 at the Saint-Omer Open, but he did not break through until 2009 at the same event. At the 2009 Saint-Omer Open in June, a week opposite the U.S. Open

U.S. Open (golf)

The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...

, Nilsson won his first European Tour event by 6 strokes over Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

's José-Filipe Lima

José-Filipe Lima

José-Filipe Lima is a professional golfer. He has Portuguese parents but was born and grew up mainly in France. His father worked at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, which was the host course of the Trophée Lancôme until that tournament ceased in 2003, and was his son's first coach...

. The win was Nilsson's first professional win on a recognized major golf tour.

European Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning Score	Margin of Victory	Runner-up
1	21 Jun 2009 2009 European Tour The 2009 European Tour was the 38th series of golf tournaments since the European Tour officially began in 1972. There were major changes for the 2009 season as the tour entered a partnership agreement with Dubai based Leisurecorp...	Saint-Omer Open (co-sanctioned by the Challenge Tour)	-13 (68-69-65-69=271)	6 strokes	José-Filipe Lima José-Filipe Lima José-Filipe Lima is a professional golfer. He has Portuguese parents but was born and grew up mainly in France. His father worked at Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, which was the host course of the Trophée Lancôme until that tournament ceased in 2003, and was his son's first coach...

Other wins (4)

• 2000 Vattenfall Berga Open (Swedish Mini-Tour)
• 2002 Telehuset Larvik Open (Nordic League)
• 2005 Øresund Masters (Telia Tour), Hydro-Texaco Open (Nordic League)

External links

• Christian Nilsson at golfdata.se