Golf: Major step forward for Kaymer

And make that Ryder Cup golfer Martin Kaymer now. The 25-year-old's dramatic and controversial victory in the United States PGA Championship at Whistling Straits last night guarantees him a first cap at Celtic Manor in October.

The drama was his play-off victory over left-hander Bubba Watson, clinched with a bogey five at the last after the American had gone in the water with his second shot.

"It's just amazing - I don't realise what has just happened," beamed Kaymer, who was out of action for two months after a go-kart crash this time last year.

"I just won my first major and I am just on Tour for four years. I have goosebumps. I cannot win anything bigger."

The controversy, though, belonged to Watson's soon-to-be Ryder Cup team-mate Dustin Johnson.

Two months after throwing away the US Open with a closing 82, he led by one with one to play, but bogeyed and then instead of going into the three-hole shoot-out with the other two was given a two-shot penalty.

His "crime" was to ground his club on sand before playing his second shot, unaware that where his ball had finished was deemed a bunker.

"It never once crossed my mind that I was in a sand trap," said Johnson, clearly stunned.

"I just thought I was on a piece of dirt that the crowd had trampled down. If it was up to me I wouldn't have thought I was in a bunker - but it's not up to me."

The players were given a rulesheet explaining the situation on a course that has as many as 1,200 bunkers, but Johnson added: "Maybe I should have looked a little harder."

It cost the 26-year-old the chance of a first major, but Kaymer's triumph still means that six of the last seven winners have been first-timers.

Two of the last three have been Europeans - Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell being the one to take advantage of Johnson's collapse at Pebble Beach.

McDowell's compatriot Rory McIlroy was hoping it was going to be him when he moved into a share of the lead with a birdie on the 14th.

But the 21-year-old bogeyed the next, missed a 15-foot birdie try at the last and, with Johnson being relegated to fifth, McIlroy moved up to joint third - the same position he occupied last year and in The Open at St Andrews last month.

Kaymer expressed real sympathy for Johnson.

"I don't know if sad is the right word, but I was a little bit shocked," he said. "Can you imagine if he would have made that (six-foot) putt on 18? He would have thought he won the golf tournament.

"On this golf course it was very tough to see what is a bunker and what is not a bunker. He played great golf. He's a very nice guy. He didn't do it on purpose."

Johnson played the final round with Nick Watney, who had a three-stroke lead and imploded.

Watney double-bogeyed the first, triple-bogeyed the seventh and finished with an 81. It dropped him to 18th and meant he did not qualify automatically for the Ryder Cup.

Now he must wait until 7 September to see if he receives a wild card from captain Corey Pavin.

Stephen Gallacher's closing 72 earned him a first top-20 finish in a major, the Linlithgow-based player tying for 18th on 284, four-under. The former Dunhill Links champion earned 64,577 Euros to strengthen his place in the Race to Dubai, having gone into the last major of the season in 23rd spot.

Gallacher, who finished just outside the top 20 in The Open at St Andrews, has now made the cut in all but one of his last 18 events and will have picked up more valuable world ranking points at Whistling Straits.

Having started the year down in the mid-450s, he recently broke back into the top 100.

McIlroy headed off on holiday today reflecting on another major that got away.

One month ago, the 21-year-old Ulsterman led The Open after an opening 63 and came third.

Last night he was tied for the lead with four holes to play in the USPGA Championship, but three-putted the 15th and - by missing a 15-foot chance on the last - finished a stroke behind play-off pair Kaymer and Watson.

McIlroy, also third in the event last August, said: "I just needed to find one more shot in any of the four days - it's disappointing.

"It's the first time I've been in contention in the last round of a major, going out in the second last group.

"I was feeling it on the first tee and it was a new experience. It will stand me in good stead in the future."

McIlroy has to wait until next April's Masters for the next chance, but he has the FedEx Cup play-offs coming up - and then his Ryder Cup debut.