Swede Success for Karlsson in Order of Merit Triumph

Robert Karlsson was never going to deny Padraig Harrington the unofficial title of Europe's best golfer but the big Swede won recognition of a more formal kind at Valderrama yesterday when he did enough - just enough - to win the 2008 European Tour Order of Merit.

As Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen won the 21st and final Volvo Masters, shooting a level-par 71 to beat Anthony Wall and Martin Kaymer by two shots, Karlsson signed for a closing round of 75, a 72-hole score of 293 and a tie for 32nd place. Those statistics confirmed that the Swede's day was hardly a triumphant march along the tree-lined fairways of Europe's most manicured fairways, but then it didn't need to be as Harrington and Lee Westwood, his principal challengers in the race for the Harry Vardon trophy, faded at the end of a rain-interrupted event which sapped the energy and spirits of many, Karlsson included.

"This has been the hardest week I have ever experienced in golf," he said afterwards, admitting that he had found it hard to concentrate on his own game knowing that his fate might depend on the efforts of Harrington and Westwood.

His heart might have skipped a beat yesterday morning when Westwood moved into a tie for the lead as the rain-delayed third round reached its conclusion. But good play from Kjeldsen and Kaymer brought peace of mind. "In a situation like this it's a lot better to have a lot of guys fighting each other," he said.

In the end Westwood bogeyed two holes on his back nine of the fourth round to let slip any chance of victory and assure Karlsson of the trophy. The Swede's prize-money total for the season, £2.17m, was £218,000 more than that of second-placed Harrington, who remained sanguine. "I know what this season is going to be remembered for in a week's time, a month's time and a year's time," said the Open and US PGA champion. "I was not quite prepared going into this and I could see that ... but in the context of the season it's not that disappointing."

Karlsson has won twice on the European tour this year and accumulated another 10 top-10 finishes - a record which tells of his supreme consistency as well as outstanding golf. He was also one of the few members of Nick Faldo's losing Ryder Cup team to emerge with his reputation enhanced. "The Order of Merit is won over 12 months. Obviously it would have been fantastic to have capped it off with a good week but I'm not going to feel ashamed of finishing 32nd this week," he said.

His overall triumph, which came on the same day his compatriot Annika Sorenstam won her 89th career title at the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open in China, also ended one of the game's more curious anomalies: despite the enormous contribution of Scandinavian players to European golf in recent years, none had won the Order of Merit.

Karlsson deserved to right that particular wrong, not least because of his efforts to transform himself and his golf. At one time he had a reputation as a hothead, now he exudes the calm of a Zen master after a long massage. His game, too, has stepped up several notches, so much so that, as Westwood pointed out the other day, he now goes into every major championship as one of the players to watch.

Whether he can add one of golf's four biggest events to his season's victory will depend on his continued improvement, some luck and, as ever, the performances of others. Tiger Woods will be back in time for next year's Masters and Harrington, buoyed by his two major championship victories this year, is intent on winning his third in a row.