Robert Karlsson believes Europe's obsession with the Ryder Cup can help him win his first tournament for two years in the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
Karlsson has not won since claiming the Deutsche Bank Championship in Hamburg in 2006 but qualified for his second Ryder Cup appearance on the back of nine top-10 finishes this season - including eighth in the US Masters, fourth in the US Open and seventh in the Open.
And the 6ft 5in Swede has a great chance to break that winless streak after taking a one-shot lead over France's Jean-Francois Lucquin into today's third round of the Ј1.6million limited-field event in Cologne.
"If the win comes, it comes, but if not there are other years," Karlsson said after a round of 69 gave him a halfway total of 136, eight under par at Gut Larchenhof.
"It's important not to get caught up with it, when you are not winning you have to learn things and there were a number of tournaments where I did not do what I needed to at certain times.
"The Ryder Cup actually takes some of the pressure off because if things are not going so well here I have something to look forward to next week."
Also looking forward to next week at Valhalla is Denmark's Soren Hansen, whose victory here 12 months ago was crucial in sealing his Ryder Cup debut.
And Hansen offered a unique solution to captain Nick Faldo's selection headache after an exhilarating round of 67 which contained 10 birdies and lifted him into a share of fifth place on four under.
"The way I played today I could play with anybody, or play on my own," joked Hansen. "I definitely lost one hole in match play (he took a triple bogey on the 11th), that's for sure. I lost it a bit but got it straight back, which shows character once again and I'm really pleased with that.
"It would nice next week, like today at 11, to have somebody to back me up at that particular moment. You never know what can happen and a guy who can back you up if you're struggling is very important."
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