Rikard Karlberg

Rikard Karlberg
Personal information
Full nameRikard Karlberg
Born (1986-12-01) 1 December 1986 (age 38)
Gothenburg, Sweden
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb; 11.5 st)
Sporting nationality Sweden
ResidenceMölnlycke, Västra Götaland County, Sweden
SpousePernilla Karlberg
Career
Turned professional2006
Current tour(s)Challenge Tour
Former tour(s)European Tour
Asian Tour
Professional wins8
Highest ranking69 (19 June 2016)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour1
Asian Tour2
Other5
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentDNP
PGA ChampionshipCUT: 2016
U.S. OpenCUT: 2010, 2013
The Open ChampionshipCUT: 2015, 2016, 2021
Achievements and awards
Swedish Golf Tour
Order of Merit winner		2007
Nordic Golf League
Order of Merit winner		2007
Asian Tour
Rookie of the Year		2010

Rikard Karlberg (born 1 December 1986) is a Swedish professional golfer. He won the 2015 Open d'Italia on the European Tour after winning a play-off against Martin Kaymer. He has also won twice on the Asian Tour and won the 2007 Nordic Golf League Order of Merit.

Early life and amateur career

Rikard Karlberg was born on 1 December 1986 in Gothenburg, Sweden. He represented Sweden at the 2003 European Boys' Team Championship in the Czech Republic and at the 2004 European Youths' Team Championship in Ireland.

Professional career

He turned professional in 2006. He topped the Nordic League rankings in 2007 to earn a tour card on the Challenge Tour. His best finish on the Challenge Tour was T4 at the 2008 Reale Challenge de España.

Karlberg earned his 2010 Asian Tour card through qualifying school. He won the second Asian Tour event he played, the SAIL Open.[2][3] Later in the year, he won his second Asian Tour title at the Hero Honda Indian Open.

Karlberg earned a 2015 European Tour card through qualifying school, and won the Open d'Italia during his rookie season, after holing a birdie putt on the second extra hole in a play-off against Martin Kaymer.

He finished runner-up at the 2016 BMW PGA Championship en route to a career-best 69th a month later on the Official World Golf Ranking and a season finish of 34th in the Race to Dubai.

After battling illness which forced him to step away from competitive golf, he holed a 50-foot birdie putt on the final hole of 2019 Qualifying School to earn the final European Tour card for 2020.[4]

At the 2021 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in early July, Karlberg finished runner-up, after holing a chip from the greenside rough on the 72nd hole. The achievement earned him €314,170 in prize money and a late spot at The 149th Open Championship two weeks later.[5]

Professional wins (8)

European Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 20 Sep 2015 Open d'Italia −19 (67-67-68-67=269) Playoff Germany Martin Kaymer

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2015 Open d'Italia Germany Martin Kaymer Won with birdie on second extra hole

Asian Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 2 Apr 2010 SAIL Open −20 (65-69-68-66=268) 5 strokes India Shiv Kapur
2 5 Dec 2010 Hero Honda Indian Open −11 (70-69-68-70=277) 2 strokes South Korea Baek Seuk-hyun

Nordic Golf League wins (4)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 19 Aug 2006 PGA Landmann Open −10 (66-72-68=206) Playoff Sweden Kalle Edberg
2 13 May 2007 St Ibb Open 27 pts (9-10-8=27) 2 points Sweden Pehr Magnebrant, Sweden Fredrik Söderström
3 11 Aug 2007 PGA Landmann Open (2) −12 (73-63-68=204) Playoff Sweden Oskar Henningsson, Sweden Olle Karlsson
4 14 Oct 2007 Unibake Masters −21 (66-63-66=195) 3 strokes Denmark Brian Akstrup, Sweden Joakim Rask

Other wins (1)

  • 2009 Stenungsund Open (Swedish Golf Ranking)

Results in major championships

Results not in chronological order in 2020.

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open CUT CUT
The Open Championship CUT CUT
PGA Championship CUT
Tournament 2019 2020 2021
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship
U.S. Open
The Open Championship NT CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
NT = No tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 2016
Championship
Match Play
Invitational
Champions T19
  Did not play

"T" = Tied

Team appearances

Amateur

See also

References

  1. ^ "Week 25 2016 Ending 19 Jun 2016" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  2. ^ Karlberg Seals Victory In Style
  3. ^ Classy Karlberg Seals The Deal
  4. ^ "Rikard Karlberg". European Tour. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  5. ^ "Big finish sends Karlberg to The Open". European Tour. July 4, 2021. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  6. ^ "Golf - Den Stora Sporten'" [Golf - the Great Sport] (in Swedish). Swedish Golf Federation 100 Years. p. 201.
  7. ^ "European Youths Team Championship". European Golf Association.