Robert Karlsson and Alex Noren are hoping their mentor-pupil relationship can help them make Sweden World Champions at the OMEGA Mission Hill World Cup.
The Swedish duo, who joined forces twice at the Royal Trophy for Europe last year to deliver two points against Asia, will head to the Mission Hills Resort on Hainan Island, China, looking to match the exploits of Karlsson and Henrik Stenson in the 2008 edition of the tournament, when they won the title at Mission Hills Golf Club, Shenzen, China.
As the team’s elder statesman, Karlsson will be the natural leader of the Swedish team, although the 42 year old is quick to point out that Noren’s sensational season in which the 29 year has won twin on The European Tour, make his young counterpart the form man of the team.
“People might think that he will be looking up to me because I am the older more experienced player, but after the year he has had I think it should be the other way round,” joked Karlsson, who also finished joint runners-up with Stenson in 2009.
“It’s going to be great. I picked Alex because he has won twice this year and he is a great player. He is the kind of guy who can make a lot of birdies when he gets going and that is very important in the World Cup format.
“We played together a couple of times in the Royal Trophy so I am very confident that the partnership will work well because we played two games together and won both of them. It’s going to be exciting.
“It’s always great to play the World Cup and the field is very strong – I think it’s going to be a very exciting World Cup with so many of the best players in the world trying to win for their countries.”
Noren cannot wait for the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup, an event that he admits “will be one of the biggest moments of my career”.
“It means so much to me to play for Sweden and to be picked by Robert,” he continued. “The fact that he chose me has already given me a lot of confidence – I’m pretty excited about the whole thing.
“He called me and told me that he wanted to play with me in the World Cup and it was just such a great call because he obviously has a lot of belief in me. I think he just felt that I have had such a great season that I should get the chance and it will be a great way for me to end a really amazing year.
“Robert is always a guy I looked up to when I was younger and since I came out on Tour he has been really good to go to for advice at certain points in my career. He has always taken tome to advise me about life on tour, what it takes to succeed and ways that I can improve. He has been like a mentor, not for my golf swing or anything, but more generally and his advice has helped me a lot.”
