Martin Kaymer Leads In The Desert
Going into the first round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship all the talk was about the year’s debut of a 2014 major winner. Sure Rory McIlroy is back, but it’s the US Open champ from a year ago who owned round one in the dessert. After a scintillating 64 Martin Kaymer is atop the leaderboard and looking for his fourth victory in the event.
The powerful German who returned to the spotlight last year by winning The Players in May and then went on to pulverize the field at Pinehurst a month later, looks to start 2015 with a bang. He opened his round with a birdie and shot 33 on the front nine but then kicked it into high gear on the back side. After a bogey on 12 Kaymer went on to birdie 13, 15, 17 and his eagle putt on 18 just came up short leading to a routine tap in for another birdie on the closing hole. After the round Kaymer told the European Tour website “I putted really well, ya know I made ten birdies. I’m not sure if I’ve ever done that on a golf course.”
The two time major champion also went on to say that he was surprised how well he putted for his first competitive round of 2015. He may be surprised but I’m not. In his two big wins last season didn’t it seem like Kaymer made everything? The stats don’t exactly show it though as he ranked 108th in total putting on tour last season. This morning he also drove the ball beautifully, just like he did in his victories last year but his 38th position for total driving last season didn’t turn heads.
Even with his run of the mill stats, Kaymer has showed up in the big moments. He has his two majors and a Players Championship, he’s come up with crucial shots and putts in the Ryder Cup, and he was even once the number one player in the world. That number one ranking is no joke either, considering only 6 players have earned the top spot since 2005. Just think about how much we rave about the career and longevity of Phil Mickelson and the lefty has yet to be called the game’s best player; Kaymer has.
With that in mind when it comes to the pride of Germany if you take away his two wins last year you can see why he has just average stats on tour. His victories were his only top 5 finishes and he only added one other top 10 finish to boot. When you break it down there really is no reason to explain why he won the tournaments that he did, other than his game stepped up when the lights shined the brightest. In 2014 he was more of a postseason performer like Derek Jeter rather than a model of consistency but lack of big game prowess like Peyton Manning.
The Kaymer story is even more fascinating due to the fact that this guy literally fell off the golfing landscape for years. After winning the PGA Championship in 2011 and being on top of golf’s mount Olympus he tumbled all the way down it in 2012 and 2013. It’s a known fact that he tinkered with his game in desperation to win the Masters. His powerful swing with the consistent left to right ball flight we all could dream of having, became more of a right to left mess. His struggles at Augusta only got worse and his overall game went down the tubes with it. The player once believed to be destined for greatness was all but forgotten.
Kaymer’s golfing odyssey is already one for the books and he’s only thirty years old. There’s plenty of time to win more majors and also plenty of time for it to fall apart again. Maybe to me that’s why his story is a fascinating one and one we can all sympathize with. He’s not the super human like Rory and Tiger have seemed at times and he’s not the constant drama like Mickelson. He’s just the quiet guy lurking in the distance who can take a punch shake it off and knock you right back.
All stats thanks to PGATour.com
Next: Rickie Fowler Takes His Golf Game Abroad In 2015 And Beyond