Kaymer makes it three-in-a-row at Dunhill
Martin Kaymer has already enjoyed the most successful year of his professional career in 2010, with a major victory and a role in Europe's Ryder Cup triumph - and the brilliant young German shows no sign of flagging.
The 25-year-old took his third victory on the bounce this weekend, triumphing at St Andrews at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by three strokes. Kaymer shot a final round of six-under-par 66 to finish 17-under for the tournament, carding seven birdies and one bogey to clinch his fourth victory of the season.
The next four positions were all taken up by Englishmen, with Danny Willett on 14-under, John Parry 13-under, Gary Boyd 12-under and Simon Dyson on 11-under, though Dyson was tied for fifth place with Scotland's Martin Laird and Spain's Alvaro Quiros.
Of Kaymer's fellow Ryder Cup teammates, Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher fared the best, both Englishmen finishing tied for 11th place on seven-under-par. Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell and Ireland's Padraig Harrington were both six-under for the tournament, and even Europe's Ryder captain Colin Montgomerie finished under-par, the Scot finishing one-under for the tournament.
But it was a sorrier tale for one of Europe's other stars yesterday, notably Rory McIlroy; the 21-year-old finished two over for the tournament after carding a final round of three-over-par 75 that included a quadruple bogey nine on the 14th at St Andrews yesterday. McIlroy had gone out of bounds with his initial drive, before losing his ball in the gorse to pile on the Ulsterman's misery.
While McIlroy struggled, though, Kaymer looked a cut above. The victory in Scotland followed wins at the KLM Open and the PGA Championship, the last two European Tour events Kaymer has contested - making four wins in total this season, Kaymer also winning the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship way back in January.
Kaymer also leads the Race to Dubai, on €3,134,447, with nearest rival Graeme McDowell almost a million Euros behind on €2,138,866. As the season winds down, the Dusseldorf-born German still has much to play for.
With Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both looking vulnerable, and Lee Westwood out with an injury for at least a month, the world No. 1 spot may even be up for grabs. The workings of the ranking system had meant that Westwood would take the coveted spot at the end of this month, even without playing - but that was before Kaymer, now ranked 4th in the world, decided to play the Andalucia Valderrama Masters in Spain on October 31st.
With a good enough performance there, Kaymer can deny Westwood the chance to go top. On current form, who would bet against the German making a case for Deutschland uber alles at the end of the month?
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