Global Golf Post - November 29, 2010

Poulter penalty helps Karlsson win in Dubai

DUBAI, UNTED ARAB EMIRATES | Though Martin Kaymer managed to shrug off Graeme McDowell well before the end of the final day of the Race to Dubai, Robert Karlsson’s winning of the Dubai World Championship was gripping to the last – and not the least because of the unexpected twist in the tale.

He and Ian Poulter, both 14-under par for the 72 holes, were playing the long 18th for a second time in the playoff when Poulter, who was 30 feet from the hole to Karlsson’s two feet, dropped his ball on his marker.

The marker, a lucky platinum coin bearing the names of his children, flipped over and, as per Decision 20-1/15, it cost him a penalty shot.

To use the precise wording of the regulation,
“any accidental movement of the ball-marker
which occurs before or after the specific act of
marking is not permitted.”
The confidence Poulter
had previously felt about his
30-footer ebbed from his
system now that he only had
it for a five. He missed with
room to spare and, before
too long, Karlsson was tap-
ping in for the Dubai World
Championship mace.
“It was not the way you
want to win,” said the
Swede, politely ignor-
ing the fact that even
as talented a putter as
Poulter would probably
have struggled with

his long putt in the fast-fading light.

Regardless of the ending, no one begrudged the 41-year-old Swede his success after the health problems he’s had since winning the European Tour Order of Merit in 2008. First, there was retina trouble and blurred vision which put him on the back foot regarding making the Ryder Cup. Then, after he came back to win this year’s Qatar Masters, he had a recurrence of the glandular fever he suffered as a child.

Three shots off the lead overnight, Karlsson opened birdie, birdie, eagle to find himself in the lead. Slightly thrown, he had three three-putt greens over the next four holes before a birdie, birdie start to his homeward half put him back in business. The last of his birdies came at the 18th where, as would happen both times in the playoff, he hit his approach inside three feet.

Poulter, two groups behind, just failed with the 15-footer he needed to win the tournament outright. Meanwhile, Lee Westwood, who finished in a share of third place despite a trip to the water at the 18th, did not give Kaymer any chance of stealing his world No. 1 spot. Kaymer, for his part, said he has pulled out of Tiger Woods’ tournament this week.

For the moment, he wants to soak up what he has done but, already, he has a couple of goals for 2011 he is happy enough to share. The first is to win another major, with the Open championship the one he hankers after the most. When it comes to the second and rather less serious of his twin aims, the odds are not so good. He wants to make what would be his first hole-in-one.

Athlete of the Century. Total game changer. A career spanning 5 decades and a celebrated résumé as a golf course designer that mirrors his record-setting legacy as a player—118 professional victories, 18 major championship titles and almost 300 golf courses around the world. Jack Nicklaus’ name is synonymous with golf greatness.

Here at Villas of Grand Cypress, he sculpted his passion for the game into Central Florida’s finest golf courses. True legends stand the test of time.