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VOLVO MASTERS

November 2, 2008

Robert Karlsson

SAN ROQUE, SPAIN

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Robert, thanks for joining us, a little bit early perhaps but it's pretty much done and dusted. Looks like you've won the Order of Merit, congratulations. Tell us about your season first. It's been quite an amazing season.
ROBERT KARLSSON: It's great, and if I don't win, just throw away the notes, all of them. (Laughter).
Yeah, it's been a great season. I didn't start off that well but I had a couple of good rounds at least early. The loss in the Match Play to Casey was probably one of the ones that turned the season around actually.
So I played really well there and competed on the 18th hole, but showed that I can put some good scores together and sort of keep going from there.

Q. Winning the Order of Merit in 2006 became a steppingstone for Padraig Harrington to greater things. Would you be looking that way, too?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yeah, but I mean, I'm not going to focus on the results. I got to where I am by focusing on things that I can do, and I will keep doing that. We will see what happens, but I've got to try to keep improving on the things that I'm doing, and you can never guarantee results. You can play really well but managed to play well in the wrong tournaments and it might be without majors.
If you look at Padraig's season this year, it might not have been so exceptional. But he had a couple of really fantastic it weeks and he managed to peak on the right weeks and he came off with a fantastic season.
So it's a little bit about timing, and it's a little bit about being also able to peak at the right areas. But I'm not going to change. I'm going to keep working on the things that I can do.

Q. You've been on Tour for a pretty long time, haven't you.
ROBERT KARLSSON: I think; quite a long time. (Laughter).

Q. I just wonder, in that situation, this must make it all the more satisfying, isn't it?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yeah, it has. Obviously the last three or four years, I would say the last three and a half years, since I played well at the end of 2005, since then, I've played, obviously taken it up to a new level and now if I win the Order of Merit, it's fantastic. It's hard to think about it.
I was close in 2006 with nine holes, four of us had a chance to win. There's still a lot of time, but it's fantastic. But it's one of those things that's a bit difficult to putt your head around. I think I need a few days for that.

Q. It's very interesting that you talk about timing, because, in fact, if my stats are right, and they may well not be, your consistency has been such that you haven't finished lower than 20th in a tournament since April.
ROBERT KARLSSON: Until today. (Laughter).
But I'm talking more about if you're going to win majors, that's what I'm talking about. To win majors and get those sort of things, then it's to peak at the right times.
I mean, yeah, it has been a fantastic, consistent year, and I played really, really good golf obviously pretty much the whole season.

Q. And that has a fair amount to do with it.
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yeah, it has.

Q. Did it matter at all to you that you win this Order of Merit on the back of a flat week, and did it affect the way that you played?
ROBERT KARLSSON: I was hoping it shouldn't, but it did. It was definitely affecting me. It was very, very difficult. This has been the hardest week I've ever experienced in golf.
It's one of those sort of situations where you have it in your own hands, but still not really. Because the prize money is so big, so both Harrington and Lee, if they would have gone on to win, I need to finish top three or four, or something like that, and it's not that easy around here, that's for sure.
Becomes a situation where focus wanders quite a bit, and then especially with what has happened as well, with all of the delays and stuff, it's become a very, very long week. I've been probably a little bit lucky that I had a little bit of a cold this week, so I was able to sleep early, but it's been tough, difficult.

Q. Does it take anything away from the fact that you've won it?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Well, the Order of Merit is won over 12 months, so not really.
Obviously it would have been fantastic to cap it off with a good week, but I mean, I'm not going to feel ashamed finishing 30th this week, that's for sure.

Q. Did you glance at the leaderboard and think, "Thank God Westwood has had a couple bogeys?"
ROBERT KARLSSON: Well, when he started, we were on the other side where there wasn't a leaderboard, so when we started it was really, really tight. Then I saw Martin Kaymer playing really well, and you knew he wasn't going to do badly, but it was definitely nice to see Kaymer doing very, very well (laughter).
Because in a situation like this, it's a lot better to have more guys up there sort of fighting each other, because only one guy there, especially around this course, it's easy to drop three or four holes, so it can still happen.
When I went up, on 16 or 17, I saw I think Kjeldsen was at 10. But it is one of those courses, you can take five or six shots on one guy, but it's more difficult to do than three or four.

Q. I think it was mentioned the other night that you improved in every category, except what; what was that one for you?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Driving distance.

Q. What for you has been the biggest improvement?
ROBERT KARLSSON: I thought a lot about the question I had the other night on Wednesday about the chipping and putting, and I would say probably it's not fair what Westwood said. I've got to -- it's not correct. If you look on the last few years, I think my putting is more accurate.
But I think what's actually made me play a lot better is I don't miss as many drives as I did before, and the misses now are more in play, which makes me hit more greens, and I'm still keeping the putting -- I'm still good in the putting, but my putting has been good I think through my whole career. Looking at my statistics way back, my putting has been high up; streaky, but high up season after season, and it still is, but now I have managed to lift the other categories, as well.

Q. Have you deliberately sacrificed a bit of length?
ROBERT KARLSSON: No, I think it's always age.

Q. Personally it's a great accolade for you but it's about time a Swede won the Order of Merit and good for the country.
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yeah, very good, the interest in golf at the moment in Sweden is huge, so, it's great, and especially for male golf as well, because of Annika. It's great for male golf -- I don't know if we'll still be after this week, but we have two guys very close to Top-10 in the world now, so it's great. And if I go onto win this, it would be great.

Q. You won't go to America anymore than you have?
ROBERT KARLSSON: No, I'm not really allowed to with their rules. I can play 12 or 15, but if I sign up to play 15, I have to play 15, and I don't really see the reason of doing that. Because at the moment with all of the world tour events, and I get into TPC anyway and probably one or two more would be very good.

Q. Would the Order of Merit trophy, would that have a special place in your house or would you create one?
ROBERT KARLSSON: I haven't got that far yet. I will look at how big it is and what it looks like.

Q. Do you have a trophy cabinet?
ROBERT KARLSSON: No, I don't actually.

Q. What will be the nature of your celebration tonight?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Sleep. Sleep on the airplane. I mean, there's not much to do. You've got to be on the airplane to Paris and then taxi 45 minutes and off to Shanghai tonight, so I don't think there's going to be much celebrating.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Robert, many congratulations once again.

End of FastScripts

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