At just 15 years of age, Persson finished runner-up and low foreign contestant at the 1980 Orange Bowl International Junior Championship in Coral Gables, Florida, after winning a playoff for second place with Stephen Ames and Paul Way.

[2] The year after, he repeated his low foreign contestant finish at Orange Bowl, again after a playoff against Stephen Ames, and a total sixth place.

Persson won the European final of the 1981 Doug Sanders International Junior Championship, for players up to 18 years of age, at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, Scotland.

This year, he also won the amateur tournament Martini Cup at Rya Golf Club, Helsingborg, Sweden, with a 72-hole score 8 under par and the Swedish Junior Stroke-play Championship at the same course.

Persson made a four feet birdie putt at his 72nd hole to give Sweden a silver medal, shared with Japan, seven strokes behind United States.

He successfully progressed through the 1982 European Tour Qualifying School, at La Manga, Spain, in November, finishing tied 7th and earned his first pay check.

At the Mallorca tournament, Person led by five strokes before the last round and kept that lead with ten holes remaining, playing in the last group with Ballesteros.