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TRANSITIONS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 16, 2010

Robert Karlsson

PALM HARBOR, FLORIDA

MARK WILLIAMS: Robert Karlsson, thanks for joining us at the Transitions Championship. This is your first start here at this tournament, and you are 22nd in the World Rankings, and it's actually your 60th start on the PGA TOUR. You won earlier in the year on The European Tour in Qatar. Just tell us what you're looking forward to about playing here at the Transitions and what made you come here.
ROBERT KARLSSON: I mean, I've heard some good reports about the golf course. Obviously Retief has talked very well about it. But I did also hear even before he won here. So I've heard it's been a very good golf course, and it suits very well in my schedule, as well, to be here this week. So looking forward to it.
MARK WILLIAMS: And what was your impression of the golf course, just seeing it for the first time today?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Very, very good. Definitely it's a ball-striker's golf course and you need to hit it well to have a chance to get a good score, and it's good.

Q. You won in Qatar, and yet you said after Sunday that you played, I believe it was like a muppet.
ROBERT KARLSSON: Last week. Putted like a muppet.

Q. What happened to the form from Qatar to there in such a short time?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Well, I've had a few weeks off. I didn't play that bad last week. But the putts didn't go in. I didn't happen to find the right lies on the greens, and those sort of things happens. All in all, it wasn't that bad last week.
I played obviously really bad the first day but apart from that, it was all right. It was just the scoring didn't really work, and you know, that happens, especially if you don't get anything going when you play the WGC events with all of the best players in the world there, you don't go anywhere, and that's just the way it is.

Q. How about the eye? Has everything cleared up now and it's 100 percent?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yeah, there's no problems whatsoever. I had a recheck two weeks ago and everything is good.

Q. What's the biggest adjustment you've had to make considering the eye issue, or none?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Nothing. Not now, nothing. I mean, since I've come back, it's been getting better and better all the time, and got sort of a total clear on the 22nd of December, and in these kind of conditions what can happen is it can start building up again.

Q. It can come back?
ROBERT KARLSSON: It can come back. It can happen. So that's why it's important to keep monitoring, and I was back on the recheck a couple of weeks ago, but there was nothing and it's good.

Q. Was it scary, what could have happened?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Yeah, it was a situation where you lose depth of vision, it's not great for golf obviously. Having four months off, you never really know where you are when you come back, and it took a long time in the fall to get back to playing well again, and obviously the win in Qatar was fantastic, to feel that it's still there again.
So, it's good. But it just took a long time. There was nothing else.
MARK WILLIAMS: Well, you're in the right place if you have any eye issues. The first round last week, I know was a bit of a mixed bag for you. Have you ever experienced anything like that where you've gone from birdies to triple-bogeys all in the same round? Has that happened to you before in your career?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Unfortunately I have to say yes (laughing) But it's a part of game, and especially as a player on the golf course like Doral where there's a lot of water around and you don't have to do much wrong to make a triple on some of those holes. And so, there we go.
MARK WILLIAMS: Can you learn anything from that?
ROBERT KARLSSON: I actually hit a shank when I made the triple, so you learn to not hit a shank. But apart from that, we are trying to focus on doing your best every shot, and apart from that, it's just take the result you have.
MARK WILLIAMS: You said earlier that this fits your schedule to play here. What is your schedule and how does it fit?
ROBERT KARLSSON: I'm going to have a -- I had a couple of weeks off since the Match Play. I played last week, playing this week. A couple of weeks off again before Augusta, playing Augusta and Verizon, and then having a couple of weeks off and then TPC and then back to Europe.

Q. What are your expectations, this being your first time around here?
ROBERT KARLSSON: When I do play my best golf, my expectations are very low and I just put the focus on what I can do on the golf course and what I'm focusing on doing on the golf course, which is taking one shot at a time and be very, very focused on sort of the here and now and what is working and what's happening right now.
So trying not to think too much about the result. That's usually the way I function the best when I play.

Q. Overseas, I'm curious, how much talk was there, if at all, about Tiger's situation? From an American's perspective, it would be interesting to hear what somebody who has not been in the States that long has to say about it. Was it the talk of the Tour on the European side?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Obviously when everything came out, but it was sort of kind of off-season for us; it was just when everything was finishing up in Europe. But there has been a lot of talk obviously, especially with Elin being Swedish, as well. So all of the Swedish players have followed up on woods a lot, and I mean, now he's coming back.

Q. What are your thoughts on that, that his return will be the Masters and not a tournament before that?
ROBERT KARLSSON: For me personally, I mean, if it would have been me, I would have played at least once before Augusta. But he's very, very precise and very sort of -- he usually has a plan on what he's doing. So I guess he thinks this is the best way of doing it for him.
MARK WILLIAMS: You're a prolific winner in Europe, nine times you've won --
ROBERT KARLSSON: Ten.
MARK WILLIAMS: Ten now, sorry (laughter). How much of a relief is it to win early in the year when you play?
ROBERT KARLSSON: It's always nice when they come. That's just the way it is. But obviously, yeah, it's nice to win early, but at the same time, winning is sort of the result of what you're doing on the golf course. A couple of years ago in 2008 when I won the Order of Merit, I didn't win until September, but I played really, really well.
I focus a lot more on how I perform and how I'm working on the golf course, and then the results usually come sort of more like icing on the cake. So the winning situation is not that important for me; it's great when it happens. But what I'm doing is really, really focusing on the things that I can control.

Q. What do you see as the strength of your game right now?
ROBERT KARLSSON: Not much last week. I think if you go back, it's been a bit up-and-down this year, with a win and a lot of 50th positions. I have to keep working on those sort of things to get a bit more solid.
But all in all, I'm very, very happy where I am with the swing and pretty much how it feels on the golf course. So, I mean, I'm hoping things can come together a bit more on a regular basis than I'm doing this year.
MARK WILLIAMS: We appreciate you coming in. All the best this week.

End of FastScripts

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