Martin Kaymer

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Martin Kaymer
Personal information
Full name Martin Kaymer
Born (1984-12-28) 28 December 1984 (age 28)
Düsseldorf, West Germany
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight 74 kg (160 lb; 11.7 st)
Nationality  Germany
Residence Mettmann, Germany
Career
Turned professional 2005
Current tour(s) European Tour
PGA Tour
Professional wins 19
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 2
European Tour 10
Sunshine Tour 1
Challenge Tour 2
Other 6
Best results in Major Championships
(Wins: 1)
Masters Tournament T35: 2013
U.S. Open T8: 2010
The Open Championship T7: 2010
PGA Championship Won: 2010
Achievements and awards
Sir Henry Cotton
Rookie of the Year		 2007
European Tour
Race to Dubai winner		 2010
European Tour
Golfer of the Year		 2010

Martin Kaymer (born 28 December 1984) is a German professional golfer. He became the No. 1 ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking on 27 February 2011 after his runner-up finish in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, but lost the top spot to Lee Westwood eight weeks later.

Kaymer was born in Düsseldorf, West Germany. He turned professional in 2005 and is a member of the European Tour. He has won ten tournaments on the tour including four in 2010 to win the Race to Dubai, formerly the Order of Merit, for the first time.[1] Among those wins was the 2010 PGA Championship, a victory which made him only the second German to win a major championship, after Bernhard Langer. He also won the 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions, which made him only the tenth player to have won both a major championship and a World Golf Championship event.

Kaymer sank a putt on the 18th hole on the final day of the 2012 Ryder Cup which retained the cup for Europe and successfully overturned a four-point deficit against the United States at the start of the final day's play.

Contents

Early professional career[edit]

Kaymer picked up his first professional win at the age of 20 as an amateur at the Central German Classic in 2005 on the third-tier EPD Tour. He shot a −19 (67–64–66=197) to win the tournament by a margin of five strokes.[2]

Kaymer played full-time on the EPD Tour in 2006 from February to August. He played in 14 tournaments and picked up five victories. He finished in the top 10 in all but one of the tournaments.[3] Kaymer won the Order of Merit on the EPD Tour in 2006 by earning €26,664.

Kaymer shot a round of 59 (−13) in the second round of the Habsberg Classic. This was his scorecard:[4]

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Par 4 3 4 5 4 4 4 3 5 36 4 5 3 4 4 4 3 5 4 36 72
Score 4 4 3 4 3 3 4 2 4 31 3 3 2 4 3 3 2 5 3 28 59

Due to his success on the EPD Tour, Kaymer received an invite to compete in his first event on the Challenge Tour, the Vodafone Challenge in his native Germany which he won.[5] He played in eight events from August to October winning again a month later at the Open des Volcans in France.[6] Kaymer ended up finishing 4th on the Order of Merit list despite playing in only eight events. In all he earned €93,321.[7] He finished in the top 5 in six tournaments, and his worst finish was a 13th place finish. Due to Kaymer's success on the Challenge Tour, he earned a European Tour card for 2007.

Professional career[edit]

2007: European Tour debut & Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year[edit]

Kaymer made his debut on the European Tour in 2007 at the UBS Hong Kong Open, but he failed to make the cut. He missed the cut in his first five events of the season. In March, Kaymer made his first cut of the season at the Singapore Masters; he finished in a tie for 20th place. In his first seven events of the season, he only made one cut. All of those events were played outside of Europe.

Kaymer found immediate success once he started playing in Europe again. He finished in a tie for 15th at the Madeira Island Open, which was the season's first Tour event played in Europe. The following week, he finished in a tie for 3rd at the Portuguese Open. He made seven consecutive cuts from 23 March to 1 June. During that streak, his worst finish was a tie for 35th and he recorded five top 25 finishes.

From 7 June to 9 September, Kaymer played in nine tournaments but only made two cuts. In the two tournaments where he made the cut, he did very well. Kaymer finished in a tie for 7th at the Open de France. Seven weeks later, he finished in a tie for 2nd at the Scandinavian Masters.

Kaymer played in six of the last eight events of the season. He made the cut in all six of those events. On 18 October 2007 at the Portugal Masters, Kaymer shot a first round of 61 (−11). This round tied the lowest round of the 2007 European Tour season. It was also the new course record at the Oceânico Victoria Clube de Golfe. He went on to finish in a tie for 7th. Two weeks later at the year-ending Volvo Masters, he finished in 6th place. The Volvo Masters had one of the strongest fields on tour in 2007. He earned €140,000 for his 6th place finish, which was Kaymer's largest payout from a tournament to that time.[8] He earned €754,691 on the season. Kaymer finished the season as the highest-ranked rookie on the Order of Merit, in 41st position, and won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award. He is the first German to win the award. Kaymer recorded five top 10s on the season. These performances took him into the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time. In November 2007 he moved into the top 75, overtaking Bernhard Langer to become the highest-ranked German golfer.[9]

On 2 November, Kaymer signed with Sportyard, a sports management company based in Sweden.[10]

Kaymer represented Germany at the 2007 Omega Mission Hills World Cup with four-time European Tour winner Alex Čejka.[11] They finished in a tie for 6th place.

2008–2009: Continued success[edit]

Martin Kaymer at the 2008 KLM Open

Kaymer started 2008 by winning his maiden European Tour event with a wire-to-wire victory at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. This achievement lifted him to 34th in the world rankings, making him the only player in the top 50 under the age of 25.[12] It also secured his entry into the WGC Match Play Championship and The Masters. Two weeks after winning the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, he finished second in the Dubai Desert Classic. He finished the tournament with birdie-birdie-eagle but world number one Tiger Woods topped him by one stroke. Kaymer moved up to a high of 21st in the world rankings due to his runner-up finish. Kaymer picked up his second victory of the year at the BMW International Open, becoming the first German to win the event in its 20-year history.[13] He held a six stroke lead going into the final round but then shot a 75 (+3) which resulted in Kaymer going to a playoff with Anders Hansen. Kaymer birdied the first playoff hole to win the tournament. Kaymer almost picked up his third win of the year at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, but he fell to Robert Karlsson in a three-man playoff that also included Ross Fisher. Kaymer recorded another runner-up finish at the Volvo Masters, finishing two strokes behind winner Søren Kjeldsen. Kaymer earned €1,794,500 in 2008 and finished in 8th on the Order of Merit. Kaymer narrowly missed selection for the 2008 Ryder Cup, but European captain Nick Faldo invited Kaymer to assist the European side in a non-playing capacity which Kaymer accepted. Kaymer represented his country at the 2008 Omega Mission Hills World Cup with Alex Čejka. The pair finished in fifth.

In 2009, Kaymer almost defended his title at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship but finished in a tie for second, one stroke behind winner Paul Casey. He continued his success in the Middle East by finishing in a tie for fourth at the Dubai Desert Classic. Kaymer won his third European Tour event in July, the Open de France ALSTOM. He defeated Lee Westwood on the first hole of a playoff when Westwood hit his approach shot into the water.[14] The win moved Kaymer into the top 100 of the European Tour Career Earnings list.

He also won the following week at the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond Golf Club in Glasgow, for his fourth career win. He came from a shot behind on the final day with a round of 2-under 69 to win by two strokes.[15] The win elevated him to 11th in the Official World Golf Rankings.[16] The week after that, Kaymer finished T-34 at the 2009 Open Championship, which was his best finish in a major to that time. He bettered this when he moved through the final round field to finish in a tie for 6th at the 2009 PGA Championship.

Kaymer suffered an injury in a go-kart accident and missed September and October. He returned to the final stages of the Race to Dubai on the European Tour, and finished the season ranked third.

2010: PGA Championship win[edit]

Main article: 2010 PGA Championship

In January 2010, Kaymer won the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship by one shot over Ian Poulter.[17]

After missing the cut at the Masters, Kaymer performed very well in the 2010 majors. He finished in a tie for eighth at the U.S. Open and then tied for seventh at The Open Championship, after starting the final round in third place.

On 15 August 2010, Kaymer won the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits for his first major championship.[18] Finishing regulation play in a two-way tie at 11 under par, he defeated Bubba Watson in a three-hole playoff.[19]

Kaymer was a member of the winning European Ryder Cup team. He won both four-balls (partnered with Westwood and Poulter), halved his foursome and lost his singles match. A week later he won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews with Danny Willett coming in three strokes behind. He was the first player since Tiger Woods in 2006 to win three successive tournaments in a year and the first European to achieve this since Nick Faldo in 1989.[20] The win took him to a career high of third in the Official World Golf Rankings.[21]

Kaymer and Graeme McDowell shared the European Tour Golfer of the Year award.[22]

2011: Becomes world's No. 1 ranked player & first WGC win[edit]

Entering the 2011 season, Kaymer turned down a chance to become a full PGA Tour member; he had become eligible with his win in the 2010 PGA Championship. He stated he would concentrate on the European Tour for 2011, but would play several U.S. events as well.

In January 2011, Kaymer claimed his third Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship title in four years and displaced Tiger Woods as number two in the world rankings.[23]

After his runner-up finish at the 2011 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, Kaymer overtook Lee Westwood as the number one golfer in the world, making him only the second German (after Bernhard Langer) to be the top-ranked golfer in the world. At the time he was the second youngest golfer to reach world number one behind Tiger Woods, however this was surpassed by Rory McIlroy in March 2012, who reached number one aged just 22. In April, he lost his number one ranking to Westwood, who won the Indonesian Masters. Kaymer spent a total of 8 weeks at the number 1 ranking.[24]

In November 2011, Kaymer won his first WGC title at the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai, China. Kaymer entered the final round trailing Fredrik Jacobson by five strokes. He shot a final round 9-under 63 to take the title by three strokes from Jacobson. After parring his opening six holes, Kaymer then preceded to birdie nine of the remaining twelve holes on the way to victory, including four straight birdies at the start of the back nine. This was the biggest comeback win ever in the history of the WGC events. It was also the lowest final round by a WGC winner ever, topping a 64 set by Hunter Mahan in 2010. In winning, Kaymer became the 10th player to have won both a major and a WGC event. The win took Kaymer back to world number four.[25]

2012: Retaining the Ryder Cup for Europe[edit]

On 30 September 2012, Kaymer won his singles match of the 2012 Ryder Cup against Steve Stricker by one hole. His putt on the 18th retained the cup for Europe and completed a European comeback from 10-6 down at the start of the final day. His team-mate Francesco Molinari followed with a half-point to win the cup outright for Europe by a score of 14½ points to 13½.[26]

2013: Joining PGA Tour[edit]

Kaymer decided to join the PGA Tour for the 2013 season. He is exempt through 2015 as a result of his 2010 PGA Championship win.[27]

Amateur wins (2)[edit]

  • 2003 Austrian Amateur Open Championship
  • 2004 German Amateur Closed Championship

Professional wins (19)[edit]

European Tour (10)[edit]

Legend
Major championships (1)
World Golf Championships (1)
Other European Tour (8)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 20 Jan 2008 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship –15 (66-65-68-74=273) 4 strokes Sweden Henrik Stenson, England Lee Westwood
2 22 Jun 2008 BMW International Open –15 (68-63-67-75=273) Playoff Denmark Anders Hansen
3 5 Jul 2009 Open de France ALSTOM –13 (62-72-69-68=271) Playoff England Lee Westwood
4 12 Jul 2009 Barclays Scottish Open –15 (69-65-66-69=269) 2 strokes Spain Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, France Raphaël Jacquelin
5 24 Jan 2010 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship –21 (67-67-67-66=267) 1 stroke England Ian Poulter
6 15 Aug 2010 PGA Championship –11 (72-68-67-70=277) Playoff United States Bubba Watson
7 12 Sep 2010 KLM Open –14 (67-67-66-66=266) 4 strokes Sweden Christian Nilsson, Paraguay Fabrizio Zanotti
8 10 Oct 2010 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship –17 (68-69-68-66=271) 3 strokes England Danny Willett
9 23 Jan 2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship –24 (67-65-66-66=264) 8 strokes Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy
10 6 Nov 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions –20 (69-68-68-63=268) 3 strokes Sweden Fredrik Jacobson

European Tour playoff record (3–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2008 BMW International Open Denmark Anders Hansen Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 2008 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Sweden Robert Karlsson, England Ross Fisher Karlsson won with birdie on first extra hole
3 2009 Open de France ALSTOM England Lee Westwood Won with par on first extra hole
4 2010 PGA Championship United States Bubba Watson Won three hole aggregate playoff:
Kaymer 4-2-5=11 (E), Watson 3-3-6=12 (+1)

PGA Tour (2)[edit]

Legend
Major championships (1)
World Golf Championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (0)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 15 Aug 2010 PGA Championship –11 (72-68-67-70=277) Playoff United States Bubba Watson
2 6 Nov 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions 1 –20 (69-68-68-63=268) 3 strokes Sweden Fredrik Jacobson

1 Kaymer's victory in the 2011 WGC-HSBC Champions did not count as an official win on the PGA Tour at the time as he was a non-member, however he has since joined the Tour so this win is now included in his list of victories.

Challenge Tour (2)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 13 Aug 2006 Vodafone Challenge –18 (70-67-64-70=271) 2 strokes England Matthew King, Spain Álvaro Quirós
2 17 Sep 2006 Open des Volcans –13 (67-64-69-71=271) 6 strokes France Michael Lorenzo-Vera

EPD Tour (6)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 14 Jun 2005 Central German Classic
(as an amateur)		 –19 (67-64-66=197) 5 strokes Germany Wolfgang Huget
2 1 Jun 2006 Friedberg Classic –13 (70-64-69=203) 7 strokes Denmark Mark Grabow Schytter
3 22 Jun 2006 Habsburg Classic –27 (68-59-62=189) 10 strokes Netherlands Rick Huiskamp
4 4 Jul 2006 Coburg Brose Open –12 (68-68-68=204) 4 strokes Denmark Lasse Jensen
5 12 Jul 2006 Winterbrock Classic –17 (68-60-71=199) 1 stroke Germany Richard Treis
6 17 Aug 2006 Hockenberg Classic –17 (72-64-63=199) 7 strokes Germany Christoph Günther

Sunshine Tour (1)[edit]

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner-up
1 2 Dec 2012 Nedbank Golf Challenge –8 (72-69-70-69=280) 2 strokes South Africa Charl Schwartzel

Major championships[edit]

Wins (1)[edit]

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runner-up
2010 PGA Championship 4 shot deficit −11 (72-68-67-70=277) Playoff1 United States Bubba Watson

1 Defeated Bubba Watson in a three-hole playoff: Kaymer (4-2-5=11) and Watson (3-3-6=12)

Results timeline[edit]

Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
The Masters CUT CUT CUT CUT T44 T35
U.S. Open T53 CUT T8 T39 T15 T59
The Open Championship 80 T34 T7 T12 CUT
PGA Championship CUT T6 1 CUT CUT

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

Summary[edit]

  • Starts – 22
  • Wins – 1
  • 2nd place finishes - 0
  • 3rd place finishes – 0
  • Top 3 finishes – 1
  • Top 5 finishes – 1
  • Top 10 finishes – 4
  • Top 25 finishes – 6
  • Missed cuts – 9
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 3
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 3

World Golf Championships[edit]

Wins (1)[edit]

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin of victory Runner(s)-up
2011 WGC-HSBC Champions 5 shot deficit –20 (69-68-68-63=268) 3 strokes Sweden Fredrik Jacobson

Results timeline[edit]

Tournament 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Accenture Match Play Championship R64 R32 R32 2 R16 R16
Cadillac Championship T57 T35 T3 T24 T20 T49
Bridgestone Invitational T68 T60 T22 T29 T29
HSBC Champions T6 T30 1 9

DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
Note: HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

European Tour professional career summary[edit]

Year Starts Cuts made Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10 Top 25 Earnings (€) Money list rank
2007 29 16 0 1 1 5 2 754,691 41
2008 25 19 2 3 0 8 12 1,794,500 8
2009 20 17 2 2 0 7 12 2,864,342 3
2010 22 18 4 0 1 10 16 4,461,011 1
2011 22 19 2 2 1 8 13 3,489,033 3
2012 24 19 0 0 1 6 13 996,382 30
Career* 142 108 10 8 4 47 69 14,359,959 15

*As of the 2012 season

Team appearances[edit]

Amateur

Professional

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Germany's Martin Kaymer wins European Tour money title". BBC Sport. 28 November 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2010. 
  2. ^ Central German Classic 2005 – Results
  3. ^ GolfBox Livescoring – Order of Merit
  4. ^ http://www.golfbox.dk/livescoring/scorecard.asp?tour={47AAAA50-49D6-4A0B-9CEE-9281395498EE}&guid={64EB8B29-1D2F-4448-9CCF-0DCFAAEDA1F4
  5. ^ PGA European Tour – Tournaments
  6. ^ PGA European Tour – Tournaments
  7. ^ PGA European Tour – Players
  8. ^ PGA European Tour – Players
  9. ^ Retrieved 26 November 2007
  10. ^ World Golf News – Martin Kaymer signs management agreement with Sportyard
  11. ^ PGA European Tour – Tournaments
  12. ^ Official World Golf Ranking – News – Full Story – 13 February 2008 2:02:03 AM
  13. ^ Kaymer wins BMW International Open
  14. ^ "Kaymer beats Westwood in play-off". BBC Sport. 5 July 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2009. 
  15. ^ "Kaymer clinches Scottish Open win". BBC Sport. 12 July 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2009. 
  16. ^ Kaymer jumps to 11th
  17. ^ "Martin Kaymer beats Ian Poulter to win Abu Dhabi title". BBC Sport. 24 January 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2010. 
  18. ^ "Martin Kaymer beats Bubba Watson in play-off for USPGA". BBC Sport. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 17 August 2010. 
  19. ^ ESPN.com – Martin Kaymer wins PGA in playoff
  20. ^ Martin Kaymer wins Dunhill Links Championship
  21. ^ OWGR Week 41 – Results
  22. ^ Historic Joint Award For Kaymer and McDowell
  23. ^ "Abu Dhabi win lifts Martin Kaymer to second in world". BBC Sport. 23 January 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2011. 
  24. ^ Martin Kaymer - Advanced Statistics
  25. ^ "Maiden WGC title for Kaymer in Shanghai". PGA Tour. 6 November 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011. 
  26. ^ "Europe seal Ryder Cup win with comeback of epic proportions". Guardian UK. 1 October 2012. Retrieved 3 October 2012. 
  27. ^ "Five internationals join Tour for 2013". PGA Tour. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2012. 

External links[edit]

Media related to Martin Kaymer at Wikimedia Commons
Match play
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Stroke play
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† indicates the event was won in a playoff; ‡ indicates the event was won wire-to-wire
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