AT 31, Martin Kaymer is hardly a wizened veteran but he may feel like one. The Ryder Cup, apparently, can put years on you.
In 2010, the German was one of five rookies in Colin Montgomerie’s European side for the sodden skirmish with the USA at a drookit Celtic Manor. Here in 2016, Kaymer will be something of an old hand in a 12-man side made up of six newcomers for the tussle at Hazeltine.
Unless you have been living in a bathysphere with your head encased in a concrete block for the past few days, you will have heard that Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Thomas Pieters were given the wild cards from European skipper Darren Clarke. You will also have heard that Scotsman Russell Knox missed out. You didn’t? Oh well, sorry to break the news.
What’s done is done and the focus now turns to the three-day contest after months of qualifying and speculation over who’s in and who’s out.
If he doesn’t do anything else in his career, Kaymer, who picked up 2 ½ points on his Ryder Cup debut six years ago, will forever be remembered for holing that nerveless putt of seven-feet to beat Steve Stricker by one hole during the final day singles which completed the Miracle of Medinah in 2012.
Kaymer’s Ryder Cup experiences have stood him in good stead and he has no doubts that the new wave of rookies for this month’s clash of the transatlantic titans will stand up and be counted too.
Whether they can relax, soak it all in and enjoy it? Well, that’s another thing. “I remember playing with Lee (Westwood in 2010) and he said I should enjoy it but it was not really possible for me,” reflected Kaymer, who will be making his fourth successive appearance in the biennial battle. “It was so easily said and it’s one of the most obvious things that when you get there to your ultimate goal of the Ryder Cup you should enjoy it.
“But it’s so hard because there’s so much going on. You want to perform and show you can play great golf and that you can deliver a point. But there are a lot of distractions. Lee also told me to just play my game and enjoy the challenges and I wished I could have done that back then. I was just not ready to let go and just play the way I usually play golf.”
The debuting half dozen at Hazeltine have got it all to look forward to.
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