Martin Kaymer of Germany in action during the Pro Am prior to the start of The Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
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EmailABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Martin Kaymer won’t make the same mistake twice. He won’t change his game to try to win the Masters.
Kaymer missed the cut in the 2008 and 2009 Masters and decided it was time for a change. A natural drawer of the golf ball, he tried to develop a fade to try to tame Augusta National. Big mistake: he missed his next two cuts, too. In four trips to Augusta, Kaymer is 0-4 in cuts made. The 2010 PGA champion has learned from the experience.
“It’s a little bit of a mistake, what I did the last couple of years,” Kaymer said on the eve of defending his title in the $2.7 million Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. “I was trying to play different golf, but it was not my golf.
“At the end of the day, you have to stick to your skills, to your strength, and that is what I will do this year. I will try to go there a little bit earlier to prepare better, but I will try to play my golf and not the golf the golf course requires.”
Kaymer has not taken out PGA Tour membership this year despite having a home in Arizona. The 26-year-old makes his permanent residence in Mettmann, Germany, but he winters in Scottsdale and practices and plays at Whisper Rock Golf Club.
It seems natural then for Kaymer to do what Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and so many other U.S.-based pros do: play both tours.
“I really wanted to play on the PGA Tour this year. I tried to figure out how I can play both tours without being too tired by September, October.
“It would have been too much golf with the (mandatory) 15 events on the PGA Tour. I would love to play more in America. I hope that (PGA Tour commissioner) Tim Finchem drops the number that we play so we only have to play 12 or 13 events, because it would be easier for us Europeans.”
Kaymer knows he doesn’t have to be a member of the PGA Tour to win majors in the United States. He wasn’t playing full time in the U.S. when he won the PGA at Whistling Straits. Besides, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer and Charl Schwartzel won the Masters as European Tour members.
Can Kaymer follow in their footsteps, especially now that he knows he doesn’t have to adapt his swing for Augusta National?
