Robert Karlsson

The son of a greenskeeper, he started and finished 2010 in superb fashion, winning the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in his second event and ending the season with victory at the lucrative Dubai World Championship presented by DP World, beating Ian Poulter in a playoff. The win lifted him to sixth in The Race to Dubai and helped banish memories of a frustrating 2009, during which he was plagued by a debilitating eye problem. Another highlight of 2010 came at the BMW PGA Championship in May. Believing he had missed the cut, he flew home on the Friday afternoon, only to receive a phone call a few hundred meters from his front door in Monaco informing him that he had made it to the weekend. Without even saying hello to his wife, he told the taxi driver to take him back to Nice airport, from where he caught a flight to Paris, had two hours of sleep and paid for a private jet leaving at 6 a.m. for London. He just made his 8:55 a.m. tee time and shot a course record 62.
Having enjoyed the most successful season of his career in 2008, when he became the first Swedish player to capture the Harry Vardon Trophy as Europe's Number One, he did not play a competitive stroke play event between the European Open in May 2009 and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October after suffering from blurred vision caused by fluid behind the retina in his left eye. Won twice in 2008 to top the Order of Merit and ensure a second successive Ryder Cup appearance before closing the year in style by partnering with Henrik Stenson to a Swedish success at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup. His outstanding 2008 season bears testimony to the decision he took, in 2003, to make a fresh start after years of feeling frustrated with life both on and off the course. His work with Swedish coach, Annchristine Lundstrom, has helped enormously.
Joined the U.S. PGA Tour for the first time in 2011. Runner-up finish at the 2010 St. Jude Championship in Memphis, where he lost to Lee Westwood in a playoff, enabled him to earn enough money as a non-member to be eligible to take a Tour card.
Member of the 2006 and 2008 Ryder Cup team.
2011 Notes: Career-best numbers produced in 2011 include top-10s (three), top-25s (six) and made cuts (14). For the second year in a row lost a playoff at the St. Jude Classic, losing in 2011 to Harrison Frazar.
2012 Notes: Finished 160th on the Tour money list in 17 starts, while managing a pair of top-30 finishes, T-29th at the U.S. Open and Travelers Championship a week later. On the European Tour played in 10 events, best finish was T-9 in the Volvo World Match Play Championship. Was 68th in the race to Dubai with ?379,002
2013 Notes: Played full time on the PGA Tour in 18 starts had one top-ten, T-4th at the Wells Fargo Championship. Didn't make it into the FedEx playoffs finishing 156th and 143rd on the money list. Tried to regain his card in the Web.Com playoffs and wasn't able to secure it, so is a non-member in 2014 so he is back playing the European Tour full time again.
In 2014, has had three top-tens, best came at the Alstom Open de France a 4th place finish that got him into the Open Championship. In a span of his last six starts was in the top-12 four times including T-12th at the Open Championship.