Bearded Vikings have a place in British history normally associated with rape and pillage. Nowadays they tend to restrict themselves to the pillage bit, and Robert Karlsson is continuing that tradition in the Victor Chandler British Masters at Woburn, where after two rounds he is tied with David Howell in the chase for the first prize of £208,330.
Darren Clarke with a level par 72 for 142 is the best of the Irish with Eamonn Darcy slipping back after a three over par 75. Des Smyth made another cut with his second 72 for level par 144.
Karlsson, winner of the Spanish Open six weeks ago, would have won praise from his predecessors for the loads of loot he has already won on the European tour, although they would be less sure of a man who dyes his beard. Karlsson is sometimes a red-bearded Viking, sometimes an orange or yellow or blond-bearded Viking according to whim and, he admits, to satisfy a craving for attention.
Of course, the best way to ensure attention is to play as he has done the past two days, with rounds of 66 and 67 giving him an 11-under-par total of 133.
Howell, having started with a 68, had a seven-birdie, no-bogey 65 yesterday for what was his best round of the year. "I had a great day," he said. "I wasn't that comfortable at the start but I stuck in there and it all came good in the end."
Mark McNulty finished on eight under, and Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood are still in contention on six and five under respectively.
Karlsson, 6 ft 5 in, first came to attention in 1992 when he was involved with another longlegged golfer, Nick Faldo, 6 ft 3 in, in a duel for the European Open at Sunningdale. He lost that one but his praises were loudly sung. Faldo said, "He has the best swing of any of the Swedes. He is just the kind we need," and Karlsson's compatriot Anders Forsbrand said: "He could be world number one within six years."
Six years later, though, Karlsson was only 17th in Europe, never mind the world, and his two tournament wins in that time seemed scant reward for his promise. He started fiddling with his swing and he went on strange diets, including one that meant eating nothing but white bread and drinking milk for a month. He still lists, as his hobbies in the media guide, skiing and self-development.
Now, though, at 31 he is less dogmatic. At one stage he refused to eat anything after 5.0 pm; now he allows the occasional burger to pass his lips at whatever time he feels like it.
He is desperate for two things: to make the Ryder Cup team and to get into the world's top 50.
Winning this week would be a big step towards both objectives, virtually ensuring the former and moving him from his present 92nd place in the rankings to around 58th.
His slightly stuttering progress so far has had nothing to do with his work ethic. "I work hard," he said, "maybe too hard at times. Most Swedes do. I think it is to do with our short season. We tend to say, it's summer, we must practise.
"For five years," he added, "some of us Swedes went to Orlando in the winter to practise and in all that time I have been to Seaworld once. On one occasion, after we had been in Florida for five weeks, working 12 hours a day, Jesper Parnevik rang to say he had tickets for a big football game. But it would have meant leaving at 3.0pm, so we said no. He was puzzled."
Howell is also something of an under-achiever. When he won the Dubai Desert Classic in 1999, he went to the top of the Volvo order of merit. But he could not sustain it, finished 22nd and last year could do no better than 40th.
This year top-10 finishes in Portugal and the Benson & Hedges signalled better things, but two missed cuts followed and consistency seems to evade him.
