Golf: Martin Kaymer cards closing 63 to claim spoils in Shanghai

Martin Kaymer vowed to give Race to Dubai leader Luke Donald a hard time after cutting his advantage in the European money list with victory at the lucrative WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai yesterday.

The German is now £893,444 behind world No 1 Donald in the rankings after a nine-under-par 63 on the final day saw him win by three shots in China. Sweden’s Fredrik Jacobson was second, with Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell third and his compatriot Rory McIlroy in a tie for fourth with England’s Paul Casey and South African Charl Schwartzel.

Kaymer admits it will still be difficult to rein in Donald, who missed the WGC event as he and his wife prepare for the birth of their second daughter, but now has the Englishman in his sights.

“Luke is a very nice guy and he deserves to be No 1 in the world,” said Kaymer. “He deserves to be No 1 in Europe. It will be difficult (to catch him), but that is what the sport is about, to challenge yourself, challenge the other players that you play with week in, week out, and of course I will try to give him a hard time. We’ll see. It’s not easy to get him away from the No 1 spot.”

Kaymer, who won the USPGA Championship last year, completed the biggest last-day comeback in world championship history. He produced a stunning run of nine birdies in his final 12 holes to turn a five-shot deficit to overnight leader Jacobson at the start of the day into a three-shot win.

After playing the first six holes to par, Kaymer started his charge with a birdie on the 346-yard par-4 seventh, before adding another on the eighth. It was the inward nine where the 26-year-old really shone, though, as he recorded four successive birdies from the 10th to 13th, and then three more on the 15th, 17th and 18th as he came back in just 29 shots.

Kaymer added: “It was an okay season, now it’s a good season. I played brilliant golf in Abu Dhabi (to win the HSBC Championship in January), and when I became the No 1 in the world in February after the World Golf Championships event in Arizona, my life has changed a little bit – not only mine, for the people I work with, my family.

“It has been a little awkward sometimes, because I was just not used to being in the spotlight. It took some time to get used to it, and hopefully it will happen again, because I know what’s going to happen, I know how to approach that.”

Paul Lawrie, the sole Scot in the field after Martin Laird turned down the chance to play, closed with a 74 to finish in a tie for 49th on 289.