European Tour Insider: Kaymer staying in U.S. this spring
By Nick Dye, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
A career-high No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking has capped a marvelous start to 2010 for the young German star Martin Kaymer, and there's every reason to suspect there'll be plenty of further success to come.
The 25-year-old collected a fifth title in three seasons by winning the Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday for the second time. Kaymer won back-to-back in the height of last summer in Europe, and he's looking to repeat the feat at the Qatar Masters this week.
Take a look at his poster for Rolex; he's a simmering Adonis. The European Tour's proud to have Kaymer as one of its poster boys. He has a light, affable charm to match the looks, too. He'd laugh and modestly accept the praise, if you told him he was handsome.
Yes, Kaymer has a straight-backed deportment and untroubled composure on course, but forget about the stereotypical descriptions of Germanic efficiency. He's not a cold machine. There's a warmth and approachability that has you rooting for him rather than feeling there's a mechanical inevitability about victories.
Of course, a machine proved to be his undoing last season. A go-kart accident left him with titanium plates in his foot. The metal can now be removed, such has been his recovery, but that would involve a further break from the game, and he's keen to keep going for a spell.
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Kaymer will be flying back to his home in Phoenix after the Dubai Desert Classic. He enjoys the relaxed winter period there in the sunshine, and he'll make a customary visit to Las Vegas even though he's lukewarm to the city's charms. He will play the Waste Management Phoenix Open -- "which is right next to my apartment, I can stay at home," Kaymer said -- and there'll be further U.S. events prior to the Masters.
Kaymer will be in the States from the first week of February until May, but he's a proud European with no immediate intention to take up a PGA TOUR card.
"I'm a European, so that's why I'm going to stay here," he said.
WHISPER IT
After the Abu Dhabi Championship last season, I asked what Whisper Rock, Ariz., has got to do with the Emirate?
Both Kaymer and Paul Casey have won twice in the five-year history of the tournament. Both are members of the exclusive golf club north of Scottsdale. They say the courses have similar grasses and similar grainy, over-seeded greens. Not that Casey prospered this time around, finishing well down the field. His rehabilitation after injury is not yet 100 percent.
DESERT KING
Henrik Stenson struggled on the greens in Abu Dhabi, saying he felt helpless and admitting he's never quite come to grips with them. It irritates him, because he'd love to be the first player to claim every desert swing title. He's won in Doha and Dubai, has a home in the latter, and he's a prominent citizen in these parts.
Stenson has written in Emirati magazines and he had a daily column in the Abu Dhabi Gazette. He's been reworking his swing with the help of Pete Cowen and feels he's on the right track, so who knows? He may be a prominent performer once again in the next two events, and most people expect another good year as he aims to be the first Swede to win a major.
THE PLAYERS champion is looking forward to returning to Lake Nona and taking up his playing rights on the PGA TOUR, recognizing that with another child on the way, he wants a bit more stability for his young family with a few less air miles.
Stenson says his preparations for the season had to be put on hold briefly, but for a very pleasant reason: "I had to make a quick trip to Stockholm to receive the Swedish Sports Award." He missed out on an individual prize, but was rewarded along with Robert Karlsson for claiming the 2008 OMEGA World Cup.
HANSON'S HOME
As a PGA TOUR member in 2010, Stenson will play at least 15 events in the U.S. this year, and those Stateside can expect to see a little more of one of his compatriots, too.
Peter Hanson has been flirting with the world's top 50 and entry to the biggest events, and also in pursuit of some winter sunshine, he's bought a place in Florida. He'll be back in Orlando after the European Tour's Desert Swing, recognizing that his form has often tailed off a little after the first three events, and he's determined to practice with the sun on his back.
He'll play the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and the World Golf Championships-CA Championship at Doral. Hanson may well be looking to play more on the PGA TOUR in the future.
"We'll see what happens," he says.
BRIGHT FUTURES
This is the time of the year we all ponder the future and aim to predict the happening stars of the new year. Let me throw in the names of two UK youngsters who could make an impression.
Welshman Rhys Davies won twice on the second-level Challenge Tour last season. With the Ryder Cup being staged in Wales, his countrymen have been pondering if they will have anyone playing on Monty's team.
The name of Davies comes up as a possibility, though he plays down his chances of such an achievement in his rookie year. That said, the two-time Walker Cup star can already boast a top-10 in Abu Dhabi this year, and looks like he'll threaten on other leaderboards.
Another Walker Cup alumni, Sam Hutsby, is worth watching, too. Accepting an invitation after having turned professional at the end of last season, he had a victory chance in Spain. The young Englishman has since prospered in this year's campaign in South Africa, as well.
It's not so long ago that Martin Kaymer was graduating with honors from the Challenge Tour, and look what he's achieved. Opportunities are there for the taking for today's young stars.
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