Sven Tumba born Sven Olof Gunnar Johansson ; 28 August — 1 October was one of the most prominent Swedish ice hockey players of the s and s. He also represented Sweden in football as well as golf and became Swedish champion in waterskiing.
Johansson first became known as "Tumba" in the s since there were other players with the same last name, and he grew up in the Swedish town of Tumba. In October he married his wife Mona, [4] and five years later he, along with Mona, legally changed his family name to Tumba.
After his retirement from ice hockey, he became an accomplished golfer, a golf course designercreator and organizer of golf exhibitions and tournaments, as well as an ambassador for the game of golf, even officially introducing the game of golf to the former Soviet Union.
However, Tumba turned down the offer as he would no longer have been eligible to play amateur hockey for the Swedish national team. He also captained the national team. As of [update]Tumba holds the Swedish scoring record of goals in games for the Swedish national team.
Djurgården has retired number 5 in his honor. As a player: [3] [11]. In the mids Tumba played for Djurgårdens IF. Tumba debuted for Djurgården in the —51 Allsvenskanplaying two matches for the team that finished 6th. He also represented the Swedish national teamwhere played one game for the national team against the Norwegian national team on 16 September After a successful career in ice hockey and football, Tumba dedicated himself to golf as a player, golf course designer and ambassador of the sport.
Tumba is widely recognized as an important, maybe the most important, person for introducing golf as a widely spread sport in Sweden. Having been introduced to the game of golf for the very first time, being over the age of 30, he reached a scratch handicap inat 39 years of age, when he, representing Stockholm Golf Club, also won the Scandinavian International Amateur Match-play Championship one of three major amateur tournaments in Scandinavia at the time and was selected, as one of the four best amateur players in the country, to the Swedish national team at the Eisenhower Trophy in MadridSpain.
He turned professional the following year and inhe qualified, as one of the two best professionals in the country, to represent Sweden at the World Cup in CaracasVenezuela. However, concerning golf in Sweden, he is not firstly remembered for his record as a player, but for his contributions to popularizing the game and putting Sweden on the map of the world of golf.
He toured around in Sweden as the main attraction in inaugurations and anniversaries at golf clubs, showing his popular golf clinic, playing exhibition matches and drawing attention in media and among people, who not formerly did know about the game.
His successful efforts to organize exhibitions in Sweden with Arnold Palmer in and Jack Nicklaus inwas followed by the professional invitation tournament Volvo Openwhich took place in Sweden in and In the Scandinavian Enterprise Open tournament sven tumba johansson hur gammal blev han established, with Tumba as its founder, and it soon became one of the richest ones on the European Tour.
During the period of time for Tumbas golf career, the number of members in Swedish golf clubs increased 50 times, from around 12, at the beginning of the s to approximatelyin the middle of the s. InTumba was, by the Swedish Golf Federationawarded the Golden Club, the highest award for contributions to Swedish golf, as the first recipient.
On the th anniversary of the Swedish Golf Federation inhe was named the most influential person in the history of golf in that country, ahead of people such as all-time women's golf great Annika Sörenstam. He was survived by his wife Mona née Nessim, b.
Both Tommie and Johan became golf professionals. Johan previously played on the European Tour and finished tied 13th in the Scandinavian Enterprise Open and later became a successful professional long driving competitor.