Pulkkanen was born in Kotka, 130 kilometres east of Helsinki in southern Finland. Introduced to the game by his brother, he began playing golf at age 9 at Kymen Golf on the island of Mussalö outside Kotka. At 12 years old, he made his first hole-in-one. At 14 years of age, he quit soccer, to concentrate on golf. He has described that he had a group of boys to practice and compete with at his home club and at the same time, in contrast to a team sport, was responsible for his own game.[2]
Amateur career
At age 16, Pulkkanen represented his country abroad for the first time, at the European Young Masters in Austria. The year after, he played for Finland at the European Boys' Team Championship in Denmark. His last year as a junior, he won the Finnish Junior Championship. He also won the Finnish Championship twice.[2]
Pulkkanen turned professional in early 2013 and was runner-up in his first tournament on the Challenge Tour, the Challenge de Madrid in April.[6] The remainder of 2013 and 2014 were disappointing with a best finish of 34th place.
Pulkkanen played on the Nordic Golf League in 2015, won five events and headed the Order Of Merit. The return to the Challenge Tour in 2016 was again a disappointment with a best finish of 30th place. His 2017 Challenge Tour season started with a second place in the Turkish Airlines Challenge,[7] followed up with another runner-up finish in the D+D Real Czech Challenge.[8] Later in the year he had his first win, taking the Kazakhstan Open after a playoff with Chase Koepka.[9] He finished first in the 2017 Challenge Tour Order of Merit to earn his European Tour card for 2018.
Pulkkanen is coached by Tommi Nousiainen and his agent is Johan Elliot at Sportyard International in Stockholm, Sweden. His main equipment sponsor is Callaway.[2]
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