Martin Kaymer has seven birdies on his Friday scorecard, but it’s a 30-foot bogey bomb on the sixth that is the pivotal moment. It sparks two more birdies on No. 7 and 8 to finish five-under for the day and two-under for the week–seven back of the lead going into the weekend.
“Every week for the last couple of months, I’ve had a double or triple on the card and it’s been really frustrating, but today it was a really big putt to stay in the tournament and not go to plus numbers, so I went from minus one to par. It was a big putt and I think it had a lot to do with the next couple of birdies, so it was good momentum there,” Kaymer tells WBGD.
Winner of the 2010 PGA Championship, 2014 U.S. Open, 2014 Players Championship and another 20-plus events worldwide–Kaymer spent eight weeks as World No. 1 in 2011 and knows what good golf feels like. Today he’s World No. 191 and No. 200 in FedEx Points.
“If you’ve been No. 1 before, you know you can do it, then it’s just a matter of time if you keep doing the right things and always be patient. That was always the theme the last couple of years–do the right things and wait for your chances. It’s a big goal to get back there and it would mean a lot more than it meant before because back then you don’t really know how hard it is to get there–you just end up there all of a sudden,” Kaymer says.
There are several tournaments within a tournament: some players are chasing the lead, others trying to make the cut and some trying to stack points to keep their PGA Tour card. Martin Kaymer needs to make cuts and needs points. He’s in the fifth year of a five-year exemption for his 2014 U.S. Open win at Pinehurst–that year he made more than $4.5 million. Last year he made $115,000 and this year he’s earned $153,000.
“I played really solid and made a few more putts than normally and under those conditions here, any score around par is good and if you shoot five under par today then it’s a big bonus,” he adds.
The 34 year old from Düsseldorf, Germany grew up less than five minutes from two of the best golf courses in the area, Kosaido International Golf Club and Hubbelrath Golf Club.
“I didn’t play at either of those. Too high-end, too expensive,” he laughs. “I grew up playing at Mettmann Golf Club.”
Junior players get a 50-percent discount at Mettmann and for those on holiday wanting to see Kaymer’s home track–green fees are around 60 Euros.
Kaymer enters the weekend at -2 in a tie for 12th, Jonas Blixt leads at -9.
Visit: gc-mettmann.de
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