Dunhill win caps a glorious week for Martin Kaymer

Published on Sunday 10 October 2010 16:11

THREE wins a row. Four if you count the Ryder Cup. Martin Kaymer is on a roll and, quite simply, has all the makings of a future world No 1. Fifteen months after lifting the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond, the 25-year-old German won again yesterday at the home of golf.

• Martin Kaymer shows off the Dunhill Links Championship trophy after clinching his third Tour win on the trot at St Andrews,with birdies at the 17th and 18th holes giving him a three-shot cushion over his nearest rivals. Picture: Getty

At the end of an afternoon when the leaderboard had been tight for so long, Kaymer finished the 3.1 million Dunhill Links Championship in a class of his own after signing off with birdies at the 17th and 18th for a six-under-par 66 and a title-winning total of 17-under 271.

He won by three shots from his playing partner, Danny Willett (67), with second and third places also being filled by young Englishmen. John Parry, who had taken a two-shot lead into the final round, finished on 13-under after a 72, with Gary Boyd a shot further back after his closing 68.

But the day - and a bitterly cold one at that - again belonged to Kaymer, who sparked his winning spree by claiming the USPGA Championship at Whistling Straits then, after a short break, returned to lift the KLM Open title in his next event. Kaymer also won in Abu Dhabi earlier in the year and is nearly 1 million ahead of second-placed Graeme McDowell in the race to be Europe's No 1 this season.

"It was always one of my dreams to win here at St Andrews," said the new champion, who closed with three bogeys in finishing seventh behind Louis Oosthuizen in the Open Championship there earlier in the year. "I can still remember the first day I came out here when I was amateur and walking down the first fairway and over the bridge. All of those things felt very special to me.

"Three days ago I talked to my dad on the phone and we talked about the British Open and we agreed that I had to try and finish better in this. So it was very special for me to win here today. It has been a fantastic week."

After starting the day as Parry's closest challenger, Kaymer needed just six holes to get his nose in front, thanks to birdies at the first, fifth and sixth. A fluffed second shot from the German at the seventh contributed to Parry regaining the initiative at the turn, by which time Boyd, Willett, defending champion Simon Dyson and Martin Laird were all the mix as well.

Kaymer led briefly again after a birdie at the 12th only for Parry to match that shortly afterwards.Willett then holed from off the green for an eagle-three at the 14th to up his challenge but Kaymer followed him from 20 feet there for a birdie and, about the same time, Parry was three-putting the 13th.

A shot in front as he boarded the 17th tee, Kaymer then produced his stunning finish. In the left rough off the tee at the Road Hole, he sensibly played long and left with his second, taking out the greenside bunker. And, from off the back edge, he rolled in the putt for a 3.

That would probably have been enough to seal the deal but, for good measure, he birdied the last as well to come home in 32, four-under. It wasn't any old birdie, either. He hit second shot off the road - Granny Clark's Wynd - to six feet and holed that one, too.

"To be honest, if you had given me a par at the 17th I would have given you money for that," added Kaymer, who picked up a cheque for just over 500,000 to take his earnings for the season to 2,714,471. "I was never expecting that I would make birdie. It was more luck than skill that I made that putt. My goal was to put it close and make my two putts and get out of there.

"On 18, I didn't really know how the ball would react coming from the road. I just wanted to hit it behind the flag, make two putts and win the tournament. I'll take the birdies but, you know, I think there was a little luck involved."

On his winning run, he added: "It's a nice habit - the PGA Championship, Holland, small matter of the Ryder Cup and now here. Four in a row - well, three-and-a-half."

Told he couldn't call the Ryder Cup a half, he smiled before adding: "Well, it wasn't my own. But, yeah, four in a row. People ask me why it is happening, but I'm surprised as well. I was never expecting to win three tournaments in a row, so I don't really have an answer for why I am playing so well at the moment."

Kaymer revealed the Celtic Manor celebrations on Monday night had left him with a bit of a hangover the next morning. "It was one of the best parties I've ever had. It was a fun night, but not too crazy," he reported. But he had totally re-focused by the time he teed off at Kingsbarns on Thursday in the company of his captain, Colin Montgomerie.

"To come here to St Andrews I think you owe the golf course 100 per cent concentration. That's what you have to bring here. Just to come here is a privilege for me. To win here is beyond (my wildest dreams]. It is fantastic for me. So I didn't need to motivate myself."

This win will take Kaymer up to world No 4, a jump of two places. He's gunning for that No 1 spot but believes Lee Westwood will deserve that mantle before him.Needing to win or finish in a tie for second here, the Englishman tied for 11th after a closing 73, but should still end Tiger Woods' long reign at the top of the tree by the end of the month.

"The way Lee played with me last week was amazing and, playing-wise for me, he's the No 1 in the world," said Kaymer, who will make a decision about whether or not to join Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy in becoming members of the PGA Tour next year once the Race to Dubai has been decided. In truth, it has probably been decided already.

Dermot Desmond, Celtic's majority shareholder, teamed up with Swede Robert Karlsson to win the team event, a 30-under-par total seeing then finish two shots ahead of Soren Hansen and Kevin McManus.