Swedish symphony

Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson combined to produce a scintillating performance in the final round foursomes to capture the Omega Mission Hills World Cup for Sweden.

Although they did not lead in any of the previous rounds, Sweden gradually improved upon each performance before saving their best for last to card a superb nine under par 63 and comfortably secure a second ever World Cup title for Sweden by three strokes.

The last time Sweden prevailed at the tournament was when Per-Ulrik Johansson and Anders Forsbrand won the trophy in 1991. Spain, who had started the day tied for the lead alongside Australia, were unable to match their stunning nine under 63 in second round foursomes as Miguel Angel JimŽnez and Pablo Larraz‡bal returned to the clubhouse at two under 70 to finish in second place at 24 under overall.

"I was starting to run out of tournaments, so it was nice to win this one. It has been a while," said The Ryder Cup player Stenson, who despite enjoying a great season in 2008 had failed to secure any victories.

In fact, Tiger Woods apart, professional golfers are professional losers! Their defeats far outweigh their victories. Actually this even applies to Woods's career, but the great man has won 10 of his last 13 tournaments so who knows what his career stats will be if he successfully returns from his knee surgery.

So, leaving Woods out of this one, for every other player a crucial part of the touring psyche is coping with failure. Leading players turn up at events with the express intention of winning, yet only on rare occasions do they fulfil their objective.

Of course, in professional golf, defeat (especially a narrow loss), is well rewarded in monetary terms, but this isn't the point. Just ask Oliver Wilson or Rory McIlroy, both of whom have been straining without success to break through as tour winners. It is the desire to win, much more than swell their already healthy bank balances that motivates these players.

McIlroy should have won in Switzerland earlier in the season, but the 19-year-old has so much talent that soon he will surely be winning for fun. Wilson's first runner-up finish came in 2004 and no less than six runners up finishes later it is extraordinary to think that a player with his game has still to win.

In the meantime they just have to keep trying but they can count their money and reflect that being a good golfing loser is at least well rewarded! Wilson probably doesn't want to look at the latest Race to Dubai standings however - yes, he's second in that as well!