Golf: Swede forced into another sacrifice

Joakim Haeggman has been forced to give up another of his hobbies in pursuit of reclaiming his place among European golf’s elite.

Fri, 15 Mar, 2002 - 06:42

Joakim Haeggman has been forced to give up another of his hobbies in pursuit of reclaiming his place among European golf’s elite.

Haeggman was the first Swede to play in the Ryder Cup when Bernard Gallacher picked him as a wild card for the European team at the Belfry in 1993.

A serious shoulder injury suffered playing ice hockey in 1994 denied the 32-year-old the chance to retain his place in the side however, and he had to admit: ‘‘I now accept that my two favourite sports do not mix.’’

And now even the most genteel of sports, fishing, has been shelved as Haeggman tries to rediscover the form that brought him two European Tour titles and saw him finish 15th on the Order of Merit in 1993 with one win and 11 other top 10s.

‘‘The beginning of my problems was an injury in the winter of 1994 which nearly ripped the muscle off my shoulder,’’ said Haeggman, who began today’s second round of the Qatar Masters in a share of the lead with compatriot Klas Eriksson.

‘‘And when the results then are not so great on the course you begin to lose interest a bit, it is hard to keep motivated when you play your best and finish 15th, where before you played your best and were in contention to win.

‘‘But I worked harder than ever over the winter and I’m trying to get back where I was and climb the order of merit and the world rankings so I can get in the majors and the world golf championship events.

‘‘I used to take two weeks off to go fishing in the summer but now I’m going to spend that time practising instead. If you have had the taste of success nothing else is really good enough.’’

Haeggman and Eriksson ended the day tied on six under par after carding opening rounds of 66, with 39 players unable to complete the first round on schedule after a delay of almost two hours on Thursday morning because of fog at Doha Golf Club.

Australian Adam Scott, Denmark’s Soren Hansen and England’s Ian Garbutt were a shot behind on five under, with Colin Montgomerie one of 13 players another shot adrift.

Montgomerie was delighted with his opening 68 after missing the cut last week in Dubai for the first time in over a decade, and was set to take to the course today sporting a pair of sunglasses after suffering from a heat-induced headache.

‘‘I’ve been wearing sunglasses for the first two days of practice but I just didn’t feel it was me!’’ the seven-time European number one said.

‘‘But I’ll probably wear some today because it’s very bright out there and I get terrible heat headaches through my eyes.

‘‘It’s a harsh sunlight and I was not feeling so good coming off the course.’’

Latest leading positions in second round of Qatar Masters, Doha Golf Club, (Gbr&Irl unless stated, par 72)

(x) denotes amateurs

6 under Mathias Gronberg (Swe) (After 27 holes)

Ian Woosnam (27)

Charlie Wi (PRK) (27)

Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) (27)

Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) (24)

Mark Roe (21)

Joakim Haeggman (Swe) (18)