Karlsson zany, but that's another story
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Some see him as different, but Robert Karlsson views himself as a man in search of inner peace. But if in the process he has produced a few out-of-the-ordinary stories, then that's OK, too.
"You got to have something to write about, don't you?" said the 38-year-old Swede after shooting 2-under-par 68 to seize a share of the first-round clubhouse lead in the 90th PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club. "It hasn't only been me. Some journalists are very good at digging."
He could enjoy the laughter, because for the first time he owns at least a share of a lead after a round of a PGA Tour event. The fact that it's a major is sweeter, though it perhaps shouldn't be a surprise. Karlsson, after all, is the only player who enjoyed top-10 finishes in each of this season's first three majors.
Joint eighth at the Masters, tied for fourth at the US Open, and in a share of seventh at the British Open. Pretty steady stuff from the 19-year pro.
"It's things that I've been working on," said Karlsson, whose seven career victories on the European PGA Tour include the 2006
In this case, the 2006 Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston. Karlsson accepted a sponsor's exemption, even though it meant skipping a big European tournament in Germany at a time when captain Ian Woosnam was trying to formalize his Ryder Cup team. Karlsson's reasoning? He was thankful to the Deutsche Bank folks and felt he could show his gratitude by playing. Also, he said he wanted a chance to win what he viewed as the "Deutsche Bank quiniela."
Certainly, it wasn't as zany as the time he stayed up all night putting 10-footers with a friend screaming at him, all in an effort to better prepare himself for competition. Nor was it something that could match the time he fasted for two weeks. But it indicates he's a free spirit, albeit one who is passionate about playing the game at the highest level. With top 10s in half of his 18 starts, Karlsson has certainly arrived at a level that seems to fit his 6-foot-5-inch frame, and part of the reason involves that search for inner peace.
He appears to have come to a compromise. "I have stopped trying to look outside of myself to find different techniques," he said. "Instead, I've just sort of [decided] to become more Robert, more calm inside. On the first tee, I'm sort of my own boss a lot more than I've ever been."
It helps explain why he didn't get rattled when he flew the green with his approach yesterday and made a double bogey at the opening hole. Quite the opposite. Karlsson ran off birdies at Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8, then pushed to 4 under with another at the par-4 11th. Though he bogeyed the par-4 14th and par-4 15th, Karlsson - who has qualified for his second straight Ryder Cup team - was obviously pleased, and he was asked how he overcame that miserable start.
"Well, I just try and remember that I actually can play golf," said Karlsson, "even if it didn't look like that on the first hole."
Hard to top
You can count Paul Goydos among the many who are less than enamored with Oakland Hills, which has always been considered a hard course, but is even more so now that heralded architect Rees Jones has overseen changes that added length to all but four holes. "If you had Rees Jones redo Scrabble, he'd leave out the vowels," said Goydos . . . There were other detractors, as well. Lee Westwood, for one. After shooting 77, the Englishman complained that "they are sucking the fun out of the major championships when you set it up like that." A big point of concern with Westwood was the thick greenside rough that "takes the skill away from chipping. You don't need it." . . . On another note, Goydos is now the answer of a trivia question: Name the first player ever drug-tested at a professional major golf championship. After signing for a 4-over 74, Goydos said he started to walk away when he got stopped. "A guy said to me, 'Here's the guy who'll be taking you.' I said, 'Taking me where?' " Turns out Goydos was taken to a room in the clubhouse so he could offer a urine specimen. He gave testing officials credit for being "inevasive," but said it indicated a sorry aspect to the world in which we live. "It's a shame," said Goydos, "but today we're guilty until proven innocent. It's disappointing, but it's the society where we live."
Drawing a crowd
One of most popular groups early in the day was one that provided young, international appeal - Sergio Garcia, Camilo Villegas, and Anthony Kim. They provided their large gallery with something to cheer at the 529-yard, par-5 second when they combined to play the hole in 4 under. Villegas (74) knocked his second shot to 18 inches and Kim (70) had his to 8 feet, as they each made eagle. But perhaps the biggest roar came when Garcia, whose second shot was stymied behind a tree, made a 20-footer to save par. It helped the Spaniard open with a 69 . . . Before dangerous weather halted play at 5:33 p.m., there had been six eagles at that second hole. Besides Villegas and Kim, Jay Haas, D.J. Trahan, Jeev Milkha Singh, and Bob Tway converted . . . Paul Azinger and Heath Slocum made eagles at the par-5 12th and Aaron Baddeley had the only birdie at the 227-yard, par-3 ninth, at least until the weather suspension . . . When play resumed at 6:59, Nicholas Thompson two-putted for par at the 18th to finish a 71. His gallery included younger sister Alexis, who had taken a red-eye flight from Oregon, where she had been ousted Wednesday in the first round of match play in the US Women's Amateur.
Wrong turn
It went from OK to bad in a hurry for Jeff Martin, an assistant pro at Point Judith CC in Narragansett, R.I. Sitting just 3 over through 15 holes, "I was hitting it pretty good and was kind of in it," he said, but then he drove it wildly at the 406-yard, par-4 16th and made double bogey when an 8-iron from 154 yards ballooned on him and went into the hazard. Then at the par-4 18th, Martin had a sloppy three-putt from inside 10 feet to close with a triple bogey and shoot 78 . . . Despite the finish, the 34-year-old Martin saw the big picture. "To get a chance to play against No. 22 in the world is pretty cool," he said, a reference to the fact that his playing competitor was Karlsson. One of 20 who earned their way into this championship via the Club Pro Championship, Martin feels thankful to be here, especially because he readily expects the PGA of America to knock that exemption figure down to perhaps as few as 10 within the next few years . . . The other New England club pro entered, Eric Dugas of Old Sandwich Golf Club in Plymouth, Mass., birdied his third hole, the par-5 12th, and at 1 under was one off the lead and on the leaderboard. It went quickly downhill as he turned in 5-over 40, then double bogeyed the par-4 first en route to an 87 . . . The week has been a reunion of sorts for old friends Rocco Mediate and Eric Manning. They were teammates at Florida Southern College in 1983-84 before heading in different directions - Mediate to the PGA Tour, Manning to the club pro business. "We had a lot of fun back in the day," said Mediate, who followed the results at the Club Pro Championship to see if Manning would qualify for his first PGA. The head professional at Cortland CC in New York, Manning indeed made it in by finishing tied for 15th, and Mediate couldn't be happier. "This is their championship and it is an honor to be here as a [PGA] Tour professional," said Mediate.
Quite a bump
The purse has been announced at $7.5 million, the winner getting $1.35 million. While it's the usual fare for these sorts of spectacles, it remains a whopping sum that can be put into perspective with a number of comparisons. For instance, it is more than three times what Steve Jones received ($425,000) for winning the last major championship to be staged at Oakland Hills (1996 US Open). And it is twice the combined prize money for the eight major championship winners at Oakland Hills ($652,000) - Jones; Andy North, 1985 US Open; David Graham, 1979 PGA; Gary Player, 1972 PGA; Gene Littler, 1961 US Open; Ben Hogan, 1951 US Open; Ralph Guldahl, 1937 US Open; Cyril Walker, 1924 US Open.
