Kaymer older, wiser upon return to Whistling Straits

The shock that Martin Kaymer felt as he hoisted his first major trophy at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits five years ago heralded a tough adjustment to a new status as a sports star.

Kaymer, then 25, outlasted Bubba Watson in a three-hole aggregate playoff to become the first German after Bernhard Langer to win one of golf's four major titles.

"I don't even know if you're happy at that moment, because you're so in shock," Kaymer recalled on Wednesday, as he prepared to tee it up again in the 97th PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

"I was really in shock. You could see my celebration was pretty much nothing, because I didn't really realize what was happening."

Kaymer would go on to win the KLM Open and Dunhill Links Championship and to help Europe win the Ryder Cup in 2010, and in 2011 he ascended to number one in the world.

But by 2012, Kaymer -- disenchanted with the media attention that accompanied his rise -- was struggling on the course.
"When you win a major then you become number one in the world, you get a lot more attention and you need to adjust as a person," Kaymer said.

Looking back, he feels he relied too much on the advice of others, rather than pursuing opportunities that appealed to him.

Now, he says, "I would have done a few more things the way I wanted it".

That would include skipping the chat shows where "you talk about stuff that you talk about for the last 10 years already ... it's a waste for everyone."

Although Kaymer delivered a Ryder Cup-clinching putt for Europe in 2012, he failed to post a win in 2013.

He rebounded in 2014, when his Players Championship win presaged a dominant US Open triumph at Pinehurst.

However, Kaymer returns to the course where he first established himself among golf's elite seeking a first win of 2015.

- Too much focus on Masters -

Kaymer looked poised to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January for a third time when he took a six-shot lead into the final round, but collapsed on Sunday to finish third.
His only top 10 PGA Tour finish this season was his tie for sixth in the WGC HSBC Champions in Shanghai back in November.

"The beginning of the season was fine," Kaymer said, but he derailed himself with too fixed a focus on the Masters.

"The preparation was all about the Masters, and I did so much, probably way too much practice," Kaymer said.

"Too much in the gym, too much focus on only one tournament and then didn't perform the way I wanted because I was going into the Masters a little bit tired already."

Kaymer admitted it took him several weeks to get over the disappointment of his missed cut at Augusta National, but he feels his game has come around.

"The last few weeks I played really good golf," Kaymer said. "The score didn't really reflect it, but sooner or later it will."
Source: AFP