Robert Karlsson, born in Katrineholm, Sweden turned professional in 1989 and was introduced to the game by his father who was a greenkeeper. The same year he entered the British Open Championship and getting a scoring average of T77. He fared better in 1992, garnering a record high T5 average.
He first turned heads in 1995, winning the Turespana Open Mediterrania in the European Tour. In 1997, he won the BMW International Open and in 1999, the Belgacom Open. He also won the 2001 Via Digital Open de Espana title as well as the 2002 Omega European Masters.
He entered the PGA Championship in 1998 and 1999 placing T65 and T41 respectively and in 2006 (scoring average of T29) and 2007 (averaging at T57). In 2002, he first entered the US Open with a scoring average of T45. His performance in the 2006 Celtic Manor Wales Open was phenomenal when he broke the record of 36 holes and 54 hole of the Tour.
By the end of 2006, he was already in the top 50 ranking of the Official World Golf Rankings by winning the Deutsche Bank Players Championship in July. He was a Ryder Cup participant in 2006 and was part of the Continental Europe team to join the Seve Trophy in 2000, 2002 and 2007. He has also represented Sweden in the 1992 Alfred Dunhill Cup, the World Cup in 2001 and 2007 and the won the 2007 Royal Trophy.
Karlsson opened 2008 with a T4 scoring average in the US Open Championship and the T8 in the Masters Tournament. He finished T30 in the World Golf Championships-CA Championship, T33 in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and T50 in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He currently resides in Monaco. In 2009, Karlsson had an eye injury leaving him with a lack of depth perception in his left eye. This happened sometime before the St. Jude Classic, just a week before the U.S. Open. Although he planned on playing in the tournament, Karlsson had to sit out the event and miss a lot of the 2009 season. After recovery, Karlsson made his comeback and claimed the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in 2010.
Recently, it was known that Karlsson became a member of the “Champions for Peace” club. This is an organization that includes around 54 athletes who are committed to serve peace all over the world through sports.
