Martin Kaymer’s 3 shot victory at the recently concluded HSBC Champions Tournament has thrown a spanner in the works of Mcilroy’s plans of becoming the World number 1. Earlier seen as a natural winner of the spot at the top, Mcilroy’s path has become much harder by the recent upsurge in form of the 26yr old golfer from Germany, Martin Kaymer.
He produced one of the most brilliant final round performances of the season by birdying 9 of the final 12 holes for a round of 63 at the Sheshan Club recently. The sterling performance at the end of the tournament was enough to propel him to the top of the leader board above Freddie Jacobson of Sweden. You can check out Martin Kaymer’s statistics for all four rounds on the official golf channel website.
Mcilroy became the World Number 2 overtaking Lee Westwood recently though he still remains significantly adrift of current World Number 1 Luke Donald. Donald’s continued good form makes it hard for the others to budge him from the top spot but continued top performances from the likes of Mcilroy and Kaymer gives them a fighting chance and means that Donald has to be on his toes at all times.
Martin Kaymer won the US PGA Championship last year and also won the season long race to Dubai. Such continued good performances propelled him briefly to the spot in the rankings. But with changes in his swing and the pressures of being the highest ranked in the player, his form and subsequently his ranking saw a dip. By his own admission, he struggled to handle the pressure of being the favorite in a tournament and not just him but the other around him struggled to handle the intense scrutiny that comes with being the World Number 1.
Things have taken an upward turn for Martin Kaymer though with his swing change finally starting to pay off as evident by his recent performances which have been befitting a player striving to be the best in the world. The recent win in Shanghai lifted Kaymer to the number 4 spot in the rankings and coupled with Donald’s withdrawal from the tournament, gives him a fighting chance to beat Donald in the season end Race to Dubai. Kaymer has recently stated that he’s now in a better position to fight for and hold onto the top spot with his past experience and new found maturity helping him on.