With Kristoffer Reitan’s victory at the Truist Championship, there are now two players from Norway with PGA Tour wins — and both happen to be members of AmateurGolf.com.
The other, of course, is 2018 U.S. Amateur champion Viktor Hovland.
If you’re an aspiring golfer in Norway, that feels like more than coincidence.
Reitan’s rise to the PGA Tour spotlight has taken a different path than Hovland’s, but longtime followers of AmateurGolf.com may remember seeing his name years ago, long before PGA Tour trophies entered the picture.
As a teenager from Nesøya, Norway, Reitan was already building an impressive international résumé while maintaining a player profile as a lifetime member of AmateurGolf.com.
That early bio now reads like a remarkably accurate scouting report.
“Kristoffer Reitan plays for Oslo Golfklubb. The Norwegian native began playing golf at the age of five. At 14, Reitan is a scratch player with several impressive finishes nationally and internationally.”
Back in 2012, Reitan won the Suzann Junior Challenge — hosted by LPGA star Suzann Pettersen — by a staggering 14-shot margin. He also finished eighth in Norway’s national junior Order of Merit and quickly began producing results internationally.
Among his top finishes that year:
- 3rd — English Boys U14 Championship (Reid Trophy)
- 3rd — Doral Publix Junior Classic (14–15 division)
- 2nd — PARS Florida International Junior
At the time, he was simply viewed as one of Norway’s brightest junior talents.
Now, he’s a PGA Tour winner.
Different Path Than Viktor Hovland
While Hovland’s rise followed a more traditional elite-amateur route — NCAA champion at Oklahoma State, U.S. Amateur champion, and rapid PGA Tour ascension — Reitan’s climb was less linear.
He spent one season at the University of Texas before turning professional in 2018, but not before assembling one of the strongest amateur campaigns by a European player that year.
Reitan climbed to No. 47 in the AmateurGolf.com World Rankings in 2018 and produced results across some of the game’s biggest amateur events:
- Round of 16 — U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach
- T10 — European Amateur Championship
- T10 — Irish Open Amateur
- 4th — French Amateur Stroke Play Championship
- Qualified for the U.S. Open through Final Qualifying
One of the defining moments from that summer came at Pebble Beach during the U.S. Amateur, when Reitan faced fellow Norwegian Viktor Hovland in match play.
In a rare Norway-vs.-Norway showdown, Hovland won 7&6 on his way to claiming the championship. The margin looks lopsided, but context matters: Hovland was playing arguably the best golf of his amateur career and defeated quarterfinal opponent Austin Squires by the same score during that same run.
Breakthrough on the Professional Stage
Reitan’s professional breakthrough took longer to arrive, but when it came, it arrived emphatically.
According to Frost Delay by Perfect Putt, Reitan earned his PGA Tour card through the DP World Tour after recording back-to-back victories in Belgium and South Africa last season.
Now 28 years old and technically still a PGA Tour rookie, Reitan captured the Truist Championship to become just the second Norwegian golfer ever to win on the PGA Tour.
The newsletter also highlighted another interesting detail: Reitan is the grandson of Odd Reitan, founder of the Norwegian retail conglomerate Reitangruppen.
Even before turning professional, Reitan’s amateur résumé already included qualifying for the U.S. Open as an amateur in 2018 — another sign that his ceiling had always been exceptionally high.
Winning a Signature Event during a rookie PGA Tour season is rare territory for any player, especially one still establishing status and schedule opportunities in the United States.
But for those who followed Reitan’s amateur career closely, the victory probably feels less like a surprise and more like the fulfillment of potential that has existed for well over a decade.
And yes, Kristoffer Reitan is still a lifetime member of AmateurGolf.com.
We doubt he’ll ever need his amateur status back — but if he does, we’ll be here for him.