Martin Kaymer questions Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy’s decisions to join PGA Tour
Germany’s top-ranked player, Martin Kaymer has expressed his surprise over Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy’s decision to join the PGA Tour next year and has rendered it “a little strange”. This is the first time, a non-controversial Kaymer has churned out
a statement which has nothing to do with the sport itself and rather undermines the ambitious plans of the top seeds Westwood and McIlroy. Westwood is poised at number two on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) while the Irishman is poised at number three.
"I just don't know why Rory and Lee go back and forth and that to me seems a little strange," Kaymer said, according to Reuters. "One year they are on the PGA Tour and next they're not. But it's their decisions and they can make up their own minds."
Kaymer’s recent statement will certainly have repercussions and Westwood and McIlroy are likely to answer his suspicions sooner than later. Kaymer has time and again declined to accept a full playing status on the PGA especially after his victory at the
PGA Championship in 2010. His manager at the Sportyard, however, is of the view that a victory at the Mission Hills World Cup of Golf will provide a necessary impetus to convince the German team to join the PGA.
“Because he can play (the winner’s-only Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Kapalua to begin the year) that might allow him to do it,” Sportyard’s Johan Elliot told GTC at last week’s Presidents Cup.
Kaymer has already announced that he will not be applying for a membership at the PGA Tour membership but his team had been contemplating of filing an application till the last day, possibly weighing their options in wake of McIlroy and Westwood’s sudden
decision to join PGA.
Both Westwood and McIlroy were on the International Sports Management clientele until Westwood decided to part ways with the formidable Chubby Chandler. McIlroy, following in the footsteps, also dumped ISM and has now joined the Dublin based Horizon Sports
Management.
Kaymer, runners up in this year’s World Cup of Golf at Hainan, China, along with compatriot Alex Cejka, has a relatively low profile year and has won just one event at the start of the year. He moved in contention in many of the events and posted strong
finishes including the Omega European Masters. He posted a strong finish in the President’s Cup a fortnight ago and has regained his momentum for the next calendar year. He is a permanent member on the European Tour.
Elliot also described the complexities of the membership requirements of both the tours and said that a player has to have minimum of 15 starts on the PGA and 13 on the European Tour in order to apply for the membership. Eight separate events, the four major
events and four World Golf Championship events, count towards the minimum total on both the tours. He also said that the current format of the FedExCup Playoffs makes it difficult for players to complete the minimum requirement of 15 starts on PGA.
Tags: