Robert Karlsson (born 3 September 1969) is a Swedish

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf p ...

who has played on the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

and the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

, and now plays on the

PGA Tour Champions PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, founded in 1937, was for many year ...

Early life

Karlsson was born in

Katrineholm Katrineholm (pronunciation: or ) is a locality and the seat of Katrineholm Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 24,271 inhabitants in 2018. It is located in the inland of Södermanland and is the third largest urban area in the county ...

, Sweden where his father Björn was a greenkeeper at the local golf club. His family lived close to the golf course, just next to the practice green, were Karlsson spent a lot of time. The green was later officially named "Robert's green", written on a plate on a stone nearby.Bakom kulisserna: När Challenge Tour kom till Katrineholm
(in Swedish) ''svenskgolf.se'' 2016-11-24

Amateur career

As an 19-year-old amateur in 1989, Karlsson became the sixth Swedish player to complete all four rounds in

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

, achieved at

Royal Troon Golf Club Royal Troon Golf Club is a links golf course in Scotland, located in Troon, South Ayrshire, southwest of Glasgow. Founding and early years The club, which now has a total of 45 holes, was founded in 1878, initially with five holes. It lies ad ...

, at his Open debut, playing the last round with defending Open champion

Seve Ballesteros Severiano Ballesteros Sota (; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 inte ...

and tying Ballesteros at 76th place and second best amateur after sinking a 3-yard putt on the last hole. The month before, Karlsson represented Sweden at the

European Amateur Team Championship The European Amateur Team Championship is a European amateur team golf championship for men organised by the European Golf Association which was introduced in 1959. The championship was played in odd-numbered years from 1959 to 2007 and has been ...

, at Royal Portcawl,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, and finished tied fourth individually with

Peter McEvoy Peter Aloysius McEvoy OBE (born 22 March 1953) was a leading British amateur golfer for many years, and is now a golf course designer, golf administrator, and golf writer. Early life McEvoy was born in London, but spent much of his childhood li ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, in the stroke-play qualification competition.

Professional career

He turned professional in late 1989 and qualified for membership of the European Tour at the 1990 Qualifying School. Since then he has retained his card and has had a steady career on tour, the highlight of which came in 2008 when he won the Order of Merit. He has finished in the top-20 of the Order of Merit seven times throughout his career and has won 11 events on tour. With his win at the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

Turespaña Open Mediterrania The Open Mediterrania was a golf tournament on the European Tour, which was played at several different venues in Spain and France from 1990 to 1995. It had four different names in six years. Major championship winners Ian Woosnam and José Mar ...

in Spain, the 16th European Tour victory by a Swedish player, Karlsson became the 8th Swede to have won on the European Tour. At the 2006

Celtic Manor Wales Open The Wales Open was a professional golf tournament on the European Tour played at the Celtic Manor Resort. It was played annually from 2000 to 2014, as part of a 15-year deal between the tour and the Celtic Manor Resort, that included staging the 2 ...

, Karlsson broke the European Tour's 36 hole and 54 hole scoring records by shooting 124 for the first two rounds and 189 for the first three. However, as the course was a par 69, which is rare at the top level, his to-par scores were less remarkable 14 under after two rounds and 18 under after three. Karlsson's second victory of 2006 at the

Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe The Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe was an annual 72-hole stroke play professional golf tournament for men. It was last played in Germany and was part of the European Tour schedule. The tournament was founded in 1992 as the Honda Open ...

in July helped him reach the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings and in 2008 he entered the top 25. His win at the

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is one of the richest golf tournaments on the European Tour. It is played in September, on three different links courses, centred on the "home of golf", St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The tournament is a p ...

took him to number 8 in October 2008. A T3 finish at the Portugal Masters two weeks later took him to number 6. He has spent over 25 weeks in the top-10 since 2008. Karlsson was a member of the Continental Europe team in the Seve Trophy in 2000, 2002 and 2007. In 1999 he was eleventh on the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

qualifying table just missing out on the last automatic place, and was not selected as a captain's pick. He made his Ryder Cup debut in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, at the age of 37, along with fellow Swede

Henrik Stenson Henrik Olof Stenson (; born 5 April 1976) is a Swedish professional golfer. He is the first male Swedish and first male Nordic major champion, having won the 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon with a major championship record score of 26 ...

. He played again in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, forming a partnership with

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Champi ...

in the foursomes and beating

Justin Leonard Justin Charles Garrett Leonard (born June 15, 1972) is an American professional golfer. He has twelve career wins on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1997 Open Championship. Early years Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Leonard graduated ...

5 & 3 in the singles on Sunday. After a strong finish to the season, Karlsson won the 2008 European Tour Order of Merit, being the first Swedish golfer to do so. This achievement resulted in him winning Swedish Male Athlete of the Year Award at the Swedish Sports Gala in January 2009, also a Swedish male golfer first. After the 2008 season, he also received the

Swedish Golfer of the Year Swedish Golfer of the Year is awarded annually by the Swedish Golf Federation. The award is individual and awarded since 1966 to the Swedish golfer with the best overall golf performance each year, either in a series of achievements or a single b ...

award, male and female, for the first time of two during his career. He won the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

for Sweden with teammate

in November

. The two of them finished second to

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

at their try to defense in the event the

year A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the h ...

after and received The Team of the Year award at the Swedish Sports Gala in January 2010. In June 2009, Karlsson suffered from an eye injury, with no depth-perception in his left eye. It occurred during the week of the

St. Jude Classic The FedEx St. Jude Classic was a professional golf tournament held in Memphis, Tennessee as a regular event on the PGA Tour. The tournament was held annually from 1958 through 2018, and was played in June at TPC Southwind (since 1989). In 2019, ...

, the week before the U.S. Open, which Karlsson was set to play in, teeing off in the first round with fellow Swede

. The eye injury caused Karlsson to withdraw from the event and he missed most of the rest of the 2009 season. He returned for The Vivendi Trophy toward the end of the season, and completed his recovery by claiming his tenth Tour title at the 2010 Commercialbank Qatar Masters the following January. In June, Karlsson lost in a sudden death playoff to

Lee Westwood Lee John Westwood (born 24 April 1973) is an English professional golfer. Noted for his consistency, Westwood is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – including ...

at the

. In 2011, Karlsson was again in a playoff at the St. Jude Classic, where he lost to long-suffering veteran

Harrison Frazar Harrison Frazar (born July 29, 1971) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Web.com Tour and currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. Amateur career Frazar was born in Dallas, Texas and was raised there and in ...

. In May 2017,

Thomas Bjørn Thomas Bjørn (born 18 February 1971) is a professional golfer from Denmark who plays on the European Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he ...

selected Karlsson as his first vice-captain for the

2018 Ryder Cup The 42nd Ryder Cup Matches were held in France from 28 to 30 September 2018 on the Albatros Course of Le Golf National in Guyancourt, a suburb southwest of Paris. It was the second Ryder Cup to be held in Continental Europe (rather than Great B ...

, and in September 2019

did the same for the 2020 Ryder Cup. As Karlsson turned 50 in 2019, he became eligible for the

, and qualified for the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

season by finishing third at the PGA Tour Champions National Qualifying Tournament in December 2019. His first season on the Champions Tour was, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, prolonged through 2020 and 2021. In his first 23 events, he finished in the top-10 11 times, including two second place finishes. Karlsson is known as "The Scientist" for his contemplative and analytical style of play.

Personal life

Karlsson was one of the tallest golfers on the European Tour at . Like many leading Swedish golfers he lives outside his home country, formerly based himself in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

and in 2010 moved to

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

, United States. Karlsson is a member of the "Champions for Peace" club, a group of 54 famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by

Peace and Sport Peace and Sport, also known as "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport" is a neutral and independent organization based in the Principality of Monaco and under the patronage of Prince Albert II of Monaco. Peace and Sport work in areas acros ...

, a

-based international organization. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, Karlsson supported the creating of a European Challenge Tour event at his old home club Katrineholm Golf Club in Sweden, Swedish Challenge hosted by Robert Karlsson. The tournament took place in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. In

, the tournament came back and was part of the Swedish Golf Tour and

Nordic Golf League The Nordic Golf League is one of the four PGA European Tour-recognised third-tier men's professional golf tours that are known as the Satellite Tours. The top five players on the rankings list at the end of each season earn a place on the second ...

Amateur wins

*1988 Le Peugeut Classic (France) *1989 Le Peugeut Classic (France)Histoire du golf de Prunevelle
(in French) ''Golf Club Prunevelle''

Professional wins (12)

European Tour wins (11)

European Tour playoff record (3–3)

Other wins (1)

Playoff record

PGA Tour playoff record (0–2) Japan Golf Tour playoff record (0–1) PGA Tour Champions playoff record (0–1)

Results in major championships

CUT = missed the half way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place.

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (2010 Masters – 2011 U.S. Open) *Longest streak of top-10s – 3 (2008 Masters – 2008 Open Championship)

Results in The Players Championship

"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

¹Cancelled due to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Results in senior major championships

"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Team appearances

Amateur *

European Boys' Team Championship The European Boys' Team Championship (Jean-Louis Dupont Trophy) is a European amateur team golf championship for men up to 18 organized by the European Golf Association. The inaugural event was held in 1980 and it has been played annually since. S ...

(representing Sweden): 1987 *

(representing Sweden):

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

European Amateur Team Championship
''European Golf Association'' Professional * Dunhill Cup (representing Sweden):

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

* Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe):

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

(winners),

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

(representing Sweden):

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

(winners),

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

(representing Europe):

(winners),

Royal Trophy The Royal Trophy was a men's professional team golf tournament which was played between 2006 and 2013. The competing teams represented Europe and Asia. Eight man teams played a series of 16 matches involving foursomes, four-ball and singles for the ...

(representing Europe):

(winners),

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

(winners)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karlsson, Robert Swedish male golfers European Tour golfers PGA Tour golfers PGA Tour Champions golfers Ryder Cup competitors for Europe Golfers from Charlotte, North Carolina Sportspeople from Södermanland County People from Katrineholm Municipality 1969 births Living people

Early life

Amateur career

Professional career

Personal life

Amateur wins

Professional wins (12)

European Tour wins (11)

Other wins (1)

Playoff record

Results in major championships

Summary

Results in The Players Championship

Results in World Golf Championships

Results in senior major championships

Team appearances

See also

References

External links