Swede start for Karlsson

Sweden’s Robert Karlsson continued where he left off on Sunday to storm through the field in the EnterCard Scandinavian Masters today.

Karlsson won the Deutsche Bank Players’ Championship in Hamburg last week to move into seventh place in the Ryder Cup standings with just a month to go before the team is finalised.

The 36-year-old only made the cut with a shot to spare in Malmo however, but picked up seven birdies and an eagle to jump onto the leaderboard at Barseback.

After a birdie at the second was cancelled out by a bogey on the third, Karlsson birdied four of his next six holes to go to the turn in 32.

A bogey on the 11th briefly halted his charge but that was promptly followed by an eagle on the 12th and birdies on the 13th and 15th.

At seven under par Karlsson was now just three off the lead held by Sheffield’s Mark Roe and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, who were due to tee off shortly before 1pm local time.

Karlsson also birdied the 16th and 18th to complete a superb 63, beating the course record set by Ireland's Peter Lawrie in 2004 by a shot and setting the clubhouse target at nine under.

“I had a couple of bogeys and even missed a really short putt on the 10th but I guess you can’t complain when you shoot a 63!” joked the 6ft 5in Swede.

“It’s fantastic every time you play well and have a lot of home support and at the moment I’m really enjoying my golf so much.

“The only problem is that I’m a bit under the weather so I’m going home this afternoon to eat lots of garlic to combat my cold. I’m just worried about breathing on my caddie tomorrow!”