Watch Robert Karlsson this year!

[Range King]

I think Robert Karlsson is definitely good for a major win this year.

He is greatly underestimated, and does not get enough attention and coverage in my eyes.
I guess I will bet some $$$ in him this season.

[MSDOGS1976]

but he is a very good player. I wouldn't be surprised if he won a major in the next year or two.

[bruce]

Karlsson is just top class,definitely a contender for a major this year.

[RichF]

I think Robert Karlsson is definitely good for a major win this year.

Yep - I'm on the Karlsson Bandwagon for sure.

I can't see any weaknesses apart from he's slightly awry with the driver. Good avatar, BTW - one of the Top3 Slam finals ever , IMO.

[Range King]

Yes, he seems to have no nerves and since the 2nd half of 2008 he is on fire.
He also performed great at the Ryder Cup.

Tennis: Thanks, RichF. We are lucky, that we can witness these two players. And their sportsmanship and respect is fantastic.

[cutshot878]

I watched Karlsson's final round at Q-school second stage (he played at Southern Hills Plantations, about 7,350 yards, Brooksville, Fl) where he was the medalist at -18. This was on Nov 17th, 2012. Watching him was like watching some sort of high priest in his temple. He was the alpha dog that day, paired with Arjun Atwal (who struggled somewhat on the back nine) and a really good Clemson golfer and hooters tour player named Brian Duncan (Duncan will win a PGA tour event one day, I guarantee it, he's got it. He pretty much held his own with Karlsson as they bombed perfect 300+ drives right down the middle all day long, right to left shots into the wind and down wind as well) His complete mastery was incredible. I watched him hit two 3-wood stingers off the tee on the shorter par 4's (if you want to call a 435 yard par 4 short) that would have made tiger blush. A few other guys were hitting the stinger. It seems to be the new "cool" shot on tour right now. Hit so low you think they topped it, until you watch it rise and head down the fairway 260 yards. So watching Karlsson (at Q-school you can actually walk down the fairway with the players) was truly amazing. I always thought players hit it low into the wind but he was hitting these high draw irons, really compressing the ball. I guess with the draw ball flight it penetrates the wind pretty good. I got to see him hit a 4 iron about 240 (downwind) into a par 5 (his drive was about 375) and miss a double eagle by a few inches, rolled past on the slick greens. Another amazing thing about Karlsson is that he's 43 but he looks 29. I have never seen someone look as fit as he does. I think he could have been an olympic athlete in any sport he chose. He's that athletic. Amazing. Unbelievably focused. In his own little meditative bubble. Nothing looks like it could rattle him and I never saw him ask someone to stop moving or stop making noise or anything like that. Nothing seemed to distract him Just another days work at the office for Robert. Also got to see Billly Hurley III. Extremely talented iron player and short game. Only weakness is his lack of power off the tee but he had no problem shooting 16 under at a 7,340 yard course so obviously he hits it long enough. Just not going to hit any 4 irons into par 5's like Robert.

[Wansteadimp]

That's right so focused he skipped out of Wentworth thinking he'd missed the cut in the European Tour's flagship event. Nearly got home to Monaco, then got the call saying you're still in the tournie.

Having said that, getting back to Wentworth and then shooting 62 on 2 hours sleep does impress me.

[cutshot878]

Robert has lived in Charlotte, NC for about two years now. The real money is on the PGA Tour, not the Euro Tour, IMO. Here's the article about his move to charlotte. http://green-side.blogspot.com/2010/07/european-tour-star-karlsson-moving-to.html There's also a "golf cribs" video on You Tube in which Robert gives us a tour of his McMansion in a gated community in the Charlotte area. He introduces his wife and beautiful children to us as well. He seems like a great guy but not on the golf course. His playing partners will be lucky to get two words out of him per 18 holes. He's all business and pretty damn intimidating just like Tiger. Then again, he was in the lead and in the final group (when I watched him) so I suppose that kind of dominance does inspire quiet confidence. He walks faster down the fairway than any of the other players. I followed him (you can walk down the fairway with them---behind them---at Q-school (Brooksvillle, FL) on Nov 17th, 2012 and I couldn't keep up with him. At 6'5 and legs about 4 feet long he left Arjun Atwal and the E-tour player Brian Duncan in the dust. Robert's caddy was like 60 yards behind him at all times. I think Robert Karlsson will win a major. He's 43 years old but looks 29. I think if his short game holds up he may be the oldest player to win the Masters or any other Major. Not sure if his short game is good enough for a U.S. Open and maybe his "Iron" ball flight is too high for a British Open. But a Masters is definitely doable in IMO. His right to left game is incredibly impressive. He has this 260 yard (carry) stinger shot with his Taylor Made Rocketballz shot that will blow away Tiger's or Gary Woodlands 3 iron stinger. There were a couple of shorter par 4's at Southern Hills Plantation (by shorter I mean less than 440 yards) and Robert was hitting this amazing 3 wood stinger. You think he topped it as it nearly clipped the front of the tee box but then the ball rises and cruises down the fairway for an easy 260. There was a lot of roll out on the dormant bermuda fairways so that's probably the only reason he was able to pull that shot off. I would imagine this 250 carry shot would not work out well on soft summer bermuda. I did watch him hit about a 350 yard drive (downwind, and driver, not the 3 wood stinger) on #11 and his ball probably rolled 100 yards. He out drove Ajun Atwal by at least 80 yards. I've been to the Players Championship (at Sawgrass) about 6 times. But there's just something so intimate about watching these guys when there are no annoying volunteers and ropes and crowd noise. It's amazing how quiet these players are. How most of the time they're waiting for their playing partner to hit his shot. How silent they are. They're in a kind of trance. They communicate to each other with their golf shots. They let their games do the talking. They are Zen Masters of their craft and for someone like myself who has been worshiping in the sacred temple of golf for 33 years (since I was ten years old and since golf offered me a refuge after losing my mother to cancer when I was ten) it is a spiritual experience to watch them at their craft. The complete mastery. The complete focus. Most of them are introverts. Personalities that fit the game well. For them perhaps this life of solitude (obsessive, constant thoughts of the swing and of the game). But a few of them are obvious extroverts. Arjun Atwal for example did not seem so locked in and oblivious to everything around him (everything not golf). He made occasional eye contact with the two or three spectators watching him that day. Okay, enough psycho babble. I learned more about my swing and about what I had to do to properly hit the golf ball from watching them for two hours than watching YouTube videos for 1200 hrs. Bottom Line: They take the club inside and strike the ball from the inside. That's where the power is. From the inside. If I hear another hacker at the golf course tell me I'm taking it back "too inside" I think I will unload on him and tell him about my day at PGA Tour Q-school watching these players hit nothing but high powerful draws into a stiff wind. That's right, very high irons into wind. They didn't punch the shots down (the greens were too fast for that kind of trajectory) and hold off. They attacked from the inside with power and using centrifigal force. Gravity. If they needed a cut, they simply weakened or neutralized their left hand grip. They didn't change their whole swing arc. The end.