STOCKHOLM, July 21, 2011 (AFP) - Robert Karlsson took a share of the Scandinavian Masters on Thursday, but this was a young Swedish amateur player rather than his compatriot and namesake, a former European number one and Ryder Cup player.
The 22-year-old carded a five under 67 to stand on top of the leaderboard alongside fellow Swede Alex Noren and South African Jaco Van Zyl.
Karlsson had four birdies on the way out to turn in 32 and added further gains at the tenth and 13th.
A double bogey at the 17th threatened to spoil his day, but he responded with a closing birdie.
"That was a great start to the tournament," said Karlsson, playing only his second European Tour event.
"Ever since I qualified on Monday, I’ve been trying to really enjoy this experience. It’s hard not to smile."
Qualifying School graduate Van Zyl had six birdies against just one dropped shot.
"It was good. Really tough conditions, very good golf course," he said.
The better-known Robert Karlsson opened with a respectable 69, one shot off second place which is shared by Sweden's Niklas Lemke, England’s John Parry, Italian Lorenzo Gagli and Spaniard Alfredo Garcia-Heredia on four under.
Leading and selected first round scores in the Scandinavian Masters at the BroHoff Slott Golf Club on Thursday (GBR/IRL unless stated, par 72; a denotes amateur):
67 - Robert Karlsson (SWE-a), Alexander Noren (SWE), Jaco Van Zyl (RSA)
68 - John Parry, Niklas Lemke (SWE), Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (ESP), Lorenzo Gagli (ITA)
69 - Pontus Widegren (SWE), Robert Karlsson (SWE), Kristoffer Broberg (SWE), Felipe Aguilar (CHI), Anthony Wall, Scott Hend (AUS), Richard Finch, Pablo Martin (ESP)
70 - Daniel Vancsik (ARG), Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Richard S Johnson (SWE), Shiv Kapur (IND), Anders Sjostrand (SWE), Lee Slattery
71 - Leif Westerberg (SWE), David Howell, Fredrik Henge (SWE), Richard McEvoy, Scott Strange (AUS), Tano Goya (ARG), Bubba Watson (USA), Marcus Fraser (AUS)
72 - Damien McGrane, Rhys Davies, Mark Brown (NZL), Victor Dubuisson (FRA), Oliver Fisher, Thomas Norret (DEN), David Drysdale, Romain Wattel (FRA), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR), Alejandro Canizares (ESP), Alastair Forsyth, Oskar Henningsson (SWE), Ross McGowan
73 - Joakim Haeggman (SWE), Robert Jan Derksen (NED), Noh Seung-yul (KOR), Floris De Vries (NED), Steven Jeppesen (SWE), Scott Pinckney (USA), Jose Manuel Lara (ESP), Scott Jamieson, Simon Wakefield, Stephen Dodd, Eirik Tage Johansen (NOR), Michael Jonzon (SWE), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (FRA), Jeppe Huldahl (DEN), Christian Nilsson (SWE), Matthew Nixon, David Lynn, Seve Benson, Dustin Johnson (USA), Marcus Gran (SWE), Jamie Donaldson, Elliot Saltman, Alexandre Kaleka (FRA), Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE)
Selected:
74 - Hennie Otto (RSA), Jeong Jin (KOR)
75 - James Kingston (RSA), Wade Ormsby (AUS), Jesper Parnevik (SWE), Michael Campbell (NZL), Daniel Gaunt (AUS), Keith Horne (RSA)
77 - Matthew Zions (AUS)
78 - Andrew Dodt (AUS)
80 - Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (IND)
83 - Anthony Kang (USA)
84 - Shaun Norris (RSA)