Profile / Editor / 29 May 2007 / Leave a Comment

Robert Karlsson earned a place in the record books last year when he became Sweden's most prolific winner and he has high hopes of continuing his winning sequence in 2007.

Karlsson's victory at the Deutsche Bank Players' Championship of Europe was his second of 2006 and the seventh of his career to take him past Anders Forsbrand's previous best.

Six weeks earlier, the tall 37-year-old had spread-eagled a high-class field at The Celtic Manor Wales Open to win at the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup - setting European Tour records for the best 36-hole and 54-holes scores in the process.

And Karlsson ended a career-best year by making his Ryder Cup debut and playing his full part Europe's historic third successive victory over their American opponents on his way to finishing fourth in the 2006 Order of Merit.

While it is not surprising that he has failed to reach those heights so far this season, the 6ft 5ins Swede has shown signs of getting back to his best in recent weeks - most notably at The Players' Championship a fortnight ago where he finished tied for sixth in a world-class field.

Karlsson struggled to get into contention at the BMW PGA Championship but he will travel to Celtic Manor this week with fond memories of last year's win and he is trading at 17 to defend his title and 4.6 to record his first top-five finish of 2007.

The son of a greenkeeper, Karlsson managed five top-20 finishes in the Order of Merit table during his first 14 years on tour - despite being his own worst enemy on the course at times and being fiercely self-critical which perhaps held him back.

But, thanks to his Swedish coach, he adopted a more relaxed attitude to life in 2003 and his results have improved over the last four years as a result.

One of the tallest players in the world, Karlsson is capable of generating tremendous power off the tee and, while he may not be the most accurate, he has a brilliant short game for such a big man.

Karlsson currently ranks fifth in scrambling on tour this year, getting up and down 63.5 percent of the time, while he is eighth in the putting statistics averaging 28.7 putts per round.

This could prove particularly useful at next month's US Open where the course is traditionally set up tough and tight.

And Karlsson has proved competing against the world's best seems to bring out the best in him - finishing joint 11th at the WGC-CA Championship and 30th at the US Masters as well as his performance at The Players' Championship this year.