Martin Kaymer guaranteed his place in the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in the most stunning fashion imaginable with a swashbuckling eight-stroke victory over Americans Ricky Fowler and Erik Compton in the 114th US Open at Pinehurst No.2.
The 2010 Race to Dubai Champion will be one of the biggest draws in the field when The European Tour’s grand finale gets underway at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 20-23. He dominated from start-to-finish, in North Carolina, closing with a one under par 69 to become the first German to win the title and continuing a superb run of European winners in the tournament, with Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose all winning it within the last five years.
Nick Tarratt, Director, The European Tour International Dubai Office said: “It’s always exciting to welcome current Major winners to the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai and Martin Kaymer will be the ninth one to tee it up in the tournament. We congratulate him for his dominant performance in the US Open and we look forward to seeing Martin in Dubai in November.”
Kaymer’s emphatic display represented his second wire-to-wire victory in two months following his win at The Players Championship in May. The 29-year-old opened his account with two consecutive rounds of 65 to reach ten-under-par 130 at the halfway mark, equalling the lowest 36-hole total in Major championship history and beating McIlroy’s US Open record of 131 from Congressional in 2010. Tough conditions in the third round made scoring difficult for everyone in the field and Kaymer’s two-over-par 72 meant he took a five-stroke lead into the final round which he never looked in danger of losing as he cruised home for a nine-under-par winning total of 271.
“Overall it was a nice week and a very nice day,” said Kaymer, who moves from 46th to second behind leader Thomas Bjorn in The Race to Dubai after winning prize money of €1,199,805 to take his total to €1,472,118. He joins Bernhard Langer as the only two German players to have won two Majors having also claimed the US PGA Championship in 2010. “I played very well the first two days to give myself a cushion, then I held it together (Saturday) and that gave me a nice cushion for today (Sunday).
“To win any Major would have been nice after the US PGA,” continued the former World Number One who moves back into the top ten on the Official World Golf Ranking having been down in 65th place a matter of weeks ago. “You want to win a Major in your career but if you can win one more, it means so much more. Some people, when I went through that low, called me a ‘one-hit-wonder’ so it’s quite nice proof – even though I don’t feel I need to prove anything to most people – but it’s quite satisfying to have two under my belt.”
It was a good week for European Tour players with several big-name players making strong moves on the 2014 Race to Dubai. Reigning DP World Tour Championship and Race to Dubai Champion Henrik Stenson moved from tenth place to seventh on the table with his tied fourth-place finish at Pinehurst No.2, his best ever finish at a US Open.
“I didn’t play my best over the weekend,” said Stenson, who shot rounds of 69, 69, 70 and 73 for a one-over-par 281, “so to still finish fourth, I guess we will take some positives out of that.”
Defending US Open champion Justin Rose confirmed his spot at the DP World Tour Championship with a tie for 12th place on three-over par 283, and while admitting that he struggled to get to grips with the course, he was pleased to finish with a long putt for birdie on the 72nd hole, which he followed with a touching tribute to Payne Stewart as he emulated the late former US Open Champion’s iconic fist pump.
“It was a nice way to finish,” said Rose after closing with a two-over-par 72. “Actually today the course got the better of me a little bit. I got frustrated today as I played really nicely and felt there was a score there for me but I let it get away.”
Rose’s fellow countryman Ian Poulter, a two-time runner-up at the DP World Tour Championship moved from 45th place on The Race to Dubai to 39th with his tied 17th place finish in North Carolina while Graeme McDowell moved up a place from 39th to 38th after his tied 28th place finish. Rory McIlroy, already guaranteed a spot in the season-ending showdown at Jumeirah Golf Estates, dropped to third on The Race to Dubai with his tied 23rd place finish coupled with Kaymer’s epic rise up the table to replace him in second.
European Tour Top 10 Race To Dubai Rankings at 16 June 2014
- Thomas BJÖRN €1,491,344
- Martin KAYMER €1,472,118
- Rory MCILROY €1,355,051
- Jamie DONALDSON €1,236,959
- Louis OOSTHUIZEN €1,062,728
- Victor DUBUISSON €1,049,766
- Henrik STENSON €1,015,401
- Miguel Angel JIMÉNEZ €1,000,825
- Stephen GALLACHER €972,236
- Sergio GARCIA €966,599
DP World Tour Championship www.DPWTC.com