Martin Kaymer hopes to dislodge Luke Donald from Race to Dubai in latest Andalucía Masters in Spain
Former world number one, Germany’s Martin Kaymer has fared badly in the current season, lurking in obscurity most of the times and ending up with just a few strong finishes following his victory in the season opener, Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January.
Touted as one of the rising German stars on the golf arena, Kaymer surfaced as the world number one on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) earlier in the year, with his runners up finish at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson, Arizona.
He was able to pull in just one runner up finish after that at the Omega European Masters last month.
The 26-year-old German will now be heading straight into the latest European Tour event in Valderrama for the Andalucía Masters in a bid to overthrow current world number one Luke Donald from the summit of Race to Dubai before the end of the season.
“It’s very nice to be back in Valderrama for the Andalucía Masters. I’ve got a lot of good memories here - although my best finish was fifth or sixth - but coming here was always a highlight, specially knowing that the Ryder Cup was here with Seve as the
Captain.” said Kaymer.
He is trailing the Englishman Donald by €1,900,000, poised as number four on the Money List and while Donald will not be playing for the next few weeks, Kaymer is hoping to turn the tide in his favour, although the gap is a huge one to say the least.
“I don’t think the winning score is going to be in double digits this week,” he said. “I figure if you shoot every round one or two under par, you have a fairly good chance to win the Andalucía Masters.” He added.
Kaymer lost most of the titles he won last year, although he tried to defend every single one of them. PGA champion last year, the young German is one of the few leading golfers from his country and is also the only one to surface as the world number one
after legendary Bernhard Langer. Kaymer’s stand at the summit of OWGR lasted for a mere few weeks before he was dislodged by Lee Westwood but he stood his ground as world number three for a considerably longer period of time. He is now poised at number six
on the rankings, following Rory McIlory’s stunning performances throughout the year.
Some of the finest players on the tour will wrestle their way up the leaderboard this week including the likes of Justin Rose, Ross Fisher, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell, Matteo Mannasero, Sergio Garcia and Alexander Noren. Kaymer is grouped with
Jimenez and McDowell and is scheduled to start off their round at 10 O’clock in the morning. The 6,988 Yards, Par-71 Club de Golf Valderrama is considered one of the toughest courses on the Spanish circuit.
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