TOUR NEWS:THE SIX-foot five-inch Robert Karlsson will look to take a giant stride this week towards winning the Harry Vardon Trophy, awarded to the winner of the European Tour Order of Merit, at the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura.
In the absence of his closest pursuer, Pádraig Harrington, Karlsson will be looking to increase the €142,425 advantage he already enjoys over the Irishman.
The race for the Vardon trophy will definitely go to the final counting tournament, the Volvo Masters (€704,000 for the winner) at Valderrama, at which Karlsson and Harrington will both be present.
The Swede, who finished second behind Stephen Webster at the Portuguese Masters last year, will be hoping to emulate a record set by Tiger Woods. The world number one won three consecutive events on the European Tour International Schedule in 2006; the British Open, the US PGA Championship and the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.
Karlsson has won the last two tournaments he has teed it up in, the Mercedes-Benz Championship which took place the week before the Ryder Cup at Valhalla and most recently the Alfred Dunhill Links, the latter victory allowing him to leapfrog Harrington in the Order of Merit standings.
He will be joined at the Oceânico Victoria Golf Course, in Vilamoura by five of his Ryder Cup team-mates, Søren Hansen, Miguel Angel Jiménez, Graeme McDowell, Lee Westwood and Oliver Wilson. Jimenez and Westwood retain outside chances to top the European standings while McDowell and Wilson will look to cement places in the top 10 on the European Tour.
Karlsson conceded: "Obviously, at present, I am leading the 2008 European Tour Order of Merit with this week's Portugal Masters and the Volvo Masters to come. It would be fun if I finished the season as European number one and became the first Swedish player to achieve that feat.
"It is not a goal itself for me but I would certainly be very pleased if it happened. Plus, it would be absolutely fantastic to be part of The Race to Dubai as European number one especially after the golf I have played this year."
Oceanico, who own the golf course, also sponsor a number of the leading contenders this week including Irish duo Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, Westwood, David Howell and Paul Broadhurst. The will be a further four Irishmen in action, Damien McGrane, Peter Lawrie, Rory McIlroy and Gary Murphy.
Meanwhile on the European Challenge Tour there will be a decent Irish representation at the Margara Diehl-Ako Platinum Open in Italy. Gareth Maybin, Michael Hoey, Michael McGeady, Colm Moriarty and Gareth Shaw boast disparate goals heading into the penultimate event of the season.
Maybin is third in the Challenge Tour standings and assured of a place at next week's Grand Final. He is also guaranteed a card on the European Tour proper next season. This tournament will herald his return to competitive golf for the first time since victory in China.
The top 20 on the Challenge Tour will join the elite next season and for Hoey (27th) and McGeady (38th) winning one of those coveted cards remains a reasonable ambition. The top 45 in the standings after this week's tournament concludes on Sunday will earn a place in the Grand Final next week where the prize fund on offer is twice the size of most regular events.
Moriarty (54th) will be hoping to make next week's finale in Italy while Shaw (113th) would like a good finish this week to improve the calibre of his card for next season. The minuscule margins that can differentiate between success and failure are best encapsulated by the plight of Roope Kakko (currently 45th) and Andrew Willey (46th).
They will spend this week fretting over making the Grand Final with Kakko just €44 ahead of Willey going into the Margara Diehl-Ako Platinum Open. There is a possibility that the gap won't close come this Sunday and one golfer will head to the Grand Final with the chance to grab a European Tour card while the other will lament what might have been: all for the sake of €44.
Outside of Q-School this is probably the most fraught week on the Challenge Tour with so many dreaming of how the €24,000 winner's cheque would change their lives.
