AMID all the fuss surrounding the triumphs of Lewis Hamilton and Paula Radcliffe and the failures of England's rugby league and cricket teams at the weekend, Robert Karlsson's clinching of the European Order of Merit title barely registered in the national media.
In some ways, that's not surprising.
Considering the time of year, it was a frantic couple of days of sport.
In addition, the way the tall Swede finally bagged the title was somewhat low key.
He finished a very modest 32nd in the season endi
ng Volvo Masters at Valderrama, a distant 17 shots behind the winner Soren Kjeldsen, but with nearest challenger Padraig Harrington and outsider Miguel Angel Jiminez failing to ignite and Lee Westwood fading after briefly threatening to come through on the rails, Karlsson had done enough.
There is just a tinge of disappointment as far as I'm concerned that when he lifted the Vardon Trophy it barely rated a mention, especially after a superb season which significantly did not flag over at Valhalla while his European colleagues were sliding to defeats all around him.
It was also a shame that Karlsson had little time to celebrate.
Almost as soon as he had sunk his final putt and received the trophy, he was off on a tortuous journey to Shanghai for the HSBC tournament, and with events in Asia and South Africa sprinkled through the winter months, there's precious little in the way of a close season for the Swede to reflect on his achievement.
I suppose with the trophy in his case though, he'll still be a happy man.
The full article contains 272 words and appears in Evening Courier newspaper.
