 Making his first ever appearance at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the 39-year-old Swede
Robert Karlsson will come to Sun City on the back of his best ever season in Europe,
having earned well over €2 million in prize-money and won two prestigious
tournaments.
His on-course statistics suggest that he was on track for a stellar year, with his
stroke average, greens in regulation and putting stats being his best since first going to
the European Tour’s qualifying school back in 1990.
In 2008 he has been a giant in every respect, standing at 1.96 metres tall physically
and standing tall at the top of the Order of Merit with just two tournaments left to play.
Golf was always destined to come naturally to him; as the son of a greenkeeper he was
never far from a golf course and he was able to spend plenty of time inventing shots and
testing himself in his father’s ‘back yard’.
With his victories in the Mercedes Benz championship and, most recently, in the Alfred
Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in Scotland, he took his tally of victories on
the European Tour to nine, making him the most prolific champion to emerge from the
fertile golfing nursery of Sweden. Hi seventh win, achieved in 2006, took him past the
previous record of Anders Forsbrand.
His first five victories came between 1995 and 2002 but, in 2003 – the year in
which he married Ebba – he decided to make a fresh start to his career, taking a new
attitude towards the game, family, friends and life in general. Whereas he had let his
temper and frustrations get the better of him at times previously, the new Karlsson
emerged calmer, more focused and more content.
He also started working with female Swedish coach, Annchristine Lundstrom, who has
helped him both with technical swing-related detail as well as mentally, encouraging him
to take personal ownership and control of his destiny.
The year 2006 certainly looked to be a breakthrough one for Karlsson, as he won two
tournaments – including the Deutsche Bank Players Championship which netted him the
biggest cheque of his career of €600 000 – and finished fourth on the European
Order of Merit with total earnings of over 2 million. His previous win had come at the
2002 Omega European Masters, while his previous best Order of Merit finish had been tenth
in 1997.
With his success came an automatic place in Ian Woosnam’s 2006 Ryder Cup team that
secured a record victory over Team America at the K-Club in Ireland, and a confidence that
suggested that he knew he belonged in the company of golf’s elite.
Given the highs of 2006 – in which he also won the Celtic Manor Wales Open –
he was more than slightly disappointed with his year in 2007, as he failed to secure a
title and slipped dramatically down the Order of Merit standings.
However, the ‘new’ Karlsson refused to be demoralised and had faith in his
ability, starting the 2008 season strongly with a second place at the UBS Hong Kong Open
and using that as a springboard to his most successful season to date and a second, albeit
losing, appearance on the European Ryder Cup team.
Now resident in Monaco, Karlsson’s length from the tee and precise iron play is
sure to serve him well on his first visit to Sun City. | 
