Top-20 European players to watch out for in 2012: Part-12
Robert Karlsson
Official World Golf Rankings: 24
Race to Dubai Rankings: 37
European Tour wins in 2011: 0
42-year-old Robert Karlsson is currently the top-ranked Swedish player in the sport primarily because of his trailblazing performance in the course of his career. Born in Katrineholm, in 1969, Karlsson was the son of the green keeper in a local golf club.
He struck an early chord with the sport and turned professional in the year 1989. Drifting through many of the local tours and qualifying schools, Karlsson finally won his European Tour card in 1990 via the qualifying school.
Karlsson’s debut stint at the European Tour did not turn out to be a fruitful one, yet the young Swede persevered to stay in the field for the next five years. His maiden victory on the tour came in the year 1995 when he thrashed the field at the Turespana
Open Mediterrania, taking over the likes of Miguel Angel Jimenez, Sam Torrance, Anders Forsbrand, and Jarmo Sandelin by three strokes.
Karlsson has 12 professional victories to his credit and has won most of them on the European Tour. He joined the PGA Tour this year in order to try his luck, possibly eyeing a level playing field after the slump of Tiger Woods. He played brilliantly well
on his debut year at the PGA, carding a runner up finish, losing the title on a Playoff. Karlsson, who was close to posting his first individual PGA Tour victory, lost on the third playoff hole of the FedEx St. Jude Classic to the rampaging Harrison Frazar.
He also finished for a high of joint fourth at the last major title of the year, the PGA Championship in Atlanta.
Karlsson played a total of 18 events on the PGA Tour this year, making the cut in 14 of them. He pulled in three top-ten and six top-25 finishes, closing the year at 46th on the FedExCup points table. He earned total of $1,779,815 on PGA with
scoring average of 70.64, while he amassed a total of € 773,347 on the European Tour with more or less the same scoring average.
Simon Dyson
Official World Golf Rankings: 28
Race to Dubai Rankings: 10
European Tour wins in 2011: 2
One of the most successful new discoveries for the English golf, is probably none other than the blond white-headed Simon Dyson, who pulled in two stunning victories on the European Tour after a lapse of two years. Dyson has been part of the European Tour
for the last whole decade after he turned professional in 1999. He joined the tour in 2000 and has been battering form vows for a long period of time. The 34-year-old Englishman went over to win nine professional titles in the course of his career but had
to face severe frustration and struggling form crisis during most his career.
Dyson won his fifth European Tour title, The Irish Open in July this year, breaking a winless taboo of almost two long years. He had won a title since his victory at Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October 2009. Bolstered by the prospects of resurgence
in his career, Dyson clinched his second victory of the season at the KLM Open in September to break into top-50 on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).
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