As he prepares to return to the scene of 2014 US Open victory, Martin Kaymer admits it is “quite difficult for me to handle” the fact that he’s not won a tournament since his dominant success at Pinehurst No.2 a decade ago.
Kaymer lapped the field at Pinehurst to win by eight shots in 2014 to claim his second Major title in tremendous style.
The win came just a month after he also won The Players Championship so Kaymer could not have been in better form – but it has all gone downhill from there.
Aside from winning the now defunct four-man PGA Tour Grand Slam event in 2014, Kaymer has not won a regular tournament since lifting the US Open at Pinehurst – something even he finds hard to believe.
“Obviously the last 10 years if you would have told me at the press conference that I’m not going to win the tournament from 2014 until 2024, I would have thought you were crazy,” said Kaymer at the LIV Golf event in Houston.
“But this is the reality and this obviously is quite difficult for me to handle, that I haven’t won since then.
“But this is the sport, and I guess this is what we try to do to become better, and hopefully we’re going to be on top soon again.”
Kaymer said the way he won the US Open in such dominant fashion took him by surprise – as winning a Major in such a way is a rare achievement.
“It was overwhelming feeling winning a major by eight shots,” he added. “I did not expect myself to do that. I know I was playing good golf going in there. I won The Players Championship two months before that, so I knew I was playing well.
“But then shooting 10-under par after two rounds on that golf course, I almost felt a little bit embarrassed about it because two days prior to the event I was asked what I believed the winning score would be, and I said probably 2- or 3-over par, and then you shoot 10-under, and you surprise yourself.”
Kaymer went to World No.1 and won those two Majors with his trademark fade, but tried to work a draw into his swing in a bid to challenge at Augusta – believing a right-handed fader couldn’t win The Masters.
While that was in part credited with his decline, losing a 10-shot lead at the Abu Dhabi Championship in January 2015 left Kaymer in shock, while injuries have also played a part.
But the German hopes a return to Pinehurst with his happy memories…
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