PGA Grand Slam of Golf: Martin Kaymer

PGA GRAND SLAM OF GOLF APPEARANCES: 2010
MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP WINS: 2010 PGA Championship
WORLDWIDE VICTORIES: 8
BIRTHDATE: Dec. 28, 1984
BIRTHPLACE: Düsseldorf, Germany
RESIDENCE: Mettmann, Germany & Scottsdale, Ariz.
FAMILY: Single
SPECIAL INTERESTS: Football, basketball, go-karting
TURNED PROFESSIONAL: 2005

By Bob Denney, Special to PGA.com

Suppose that you are a contestant on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and precious seconds are ticking off. A fortune awaits you just across the table.

For $1 million, what was golfer Martin Kaymer’s career- defining moment? You draw a deep breath. The music stops.

It was that cold-as-ice 15-foot par-saving putt he nailed on the 18th green in the 92nd PGA Championship. It propelled him into a playoff, and he’s now Germany’s first PGA Champion.

That’s my final answer.

Buzz!

Sorry, but Kaymer’s putt -- coming in the gloaming of August in Wisconsin -- was the result of a career- defining moment.

When he was 15, and already showing signs of being a multi-sport star in Düsseldorf, Germany, Kaymer’s parents approached him and said, “You’re going to spend too much time on the golf course and too much time on the soccer field, so you have to decide what you want to do.” Young Martin chose golf over his country’s national pastime.

Kaymer said that he enjoyed to be out on the golf course early in the morning by himself, with no interruptions.

Turning professional at 21, Kaymer is now a remarkably “seasoned” 25-year-old, who continues to relish that peace that playing golf may bring.

Finding his inner peace led Kaymer to become a premier performer and elevate him to national stardom.

When you surf the Web today, you find that Kaymer listed among a total of 13 men and women “leaders in German golf.” The total reflects a country offering more than 500 golf courses to service an estimated 300,000- plus players.

The roster, of course, includes Bernhard Langer, who was Germany’s first major golf champion, one of the hottest players still today as a Champions Tour member, and one of the game’s most respected players.

Kaymer’s victory in the PGA Championship, evoked lavish praise from Langer, a two-time Masters Champion: “It’s good for German golf to have a superstar. It’s important to have someone for the kids to look up to. He’s fulfilling that role. And, he’s not just a good golfer. He’s a man of high character. He’s the whole package.”

The preparation Kaymer has made through his young career, and the coaching from Günter Kessler of Düsseldorf continues to be reflected in his course strategy. It is enough to make Langer’s chest swell with pride.

In the PGA Championship three-hole playoff, after trading birdies with Watson on the first two play-off holes, Kaymer watched as Watson went for the green at 18 from a bad lie and put his ball into a water hazard.

Kaymer chipped out from his bad lie, leaving himself a 7-iron to the green that proved to be a winning play.

Kaymer’s idols are both Langer and South African Ernie Els, but he also has had sage advice over the years from Swede Fanny Sunesson, a former caddie to England’s Nick Faldo.

Sunesson mentored Kaymer since she came into contact with him when she was doing some work for the German national amateur team. Sunesson even showed Kaymer around Augusta National, where she was victorious with Faldo, before Kaymer made his debut there three years ago.

Kaymer has always been open to such help and the process continued two years ago when Faldo himself invited Kaymer to the 2008 Ryder Cup in Louisville, Ky., as an observer. Kaymer had missed earning a berth on the European Team.

When Kaymer stepped to the tee at Whistling Straits, it was his 12th major championship appearance. All the coaching and mentoring had come to fulfillment. This season, Kaymer finished eighth behind Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, and seventh behind Louis Oosthuizen at St. Andrews in the Open Championship. The new, young guard was indeed taking shape before our eyes.

The early signs that Kaymer was going to be a very special professional came in August 2006, when he posted a 59 on the Satellite EPD Tour before joining the European Challenge Tour.

In 2007, he became the first German to be named Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year after recording five top-10 finishes. In his first appearance of the 2008 season, Kaymer registered a wire-to-wire victory in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, and won a playoff in his homeland at the BMW International Open.

He admitted later that the BMW victory was the most meaningful to him. He won in Germany just a few weeks before his mother passed away following a two-year battle with cancer.

Kaymer’s march to prominence continued in 2009 with consecutive wins at the Open de France ALSTOM and The Barclays Scottish Open, but he was halted when he broke four bones in his foot while go-karting and was forced out of action for two months. A second win in three years at the 2010 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship once more energized him. He was more than ready for his visit to the PGA Championship. He was more than ready to make an impact on European golf.

It was Martin Kaymer’s final answer.

This story appears courtesy of the 2010 PGA Grand Slam of Golf Official Journal.