Kaymers Maiden Victory

Well, it was just a matter of time until the 2007 European Tour Rookie of the Year would claim his first title. Today, Martin Kaymer – in his first start of the 2008 season – won his first trophy. And did it in style, leading from start to finish through all four rounds. A big applause from our side and congratulations, Martin.

A fifth place in the Order of Merit, a two year tour exemption and the 35th spot in the World Golf rankings and, above all, he became the youngest german winner in European Tour history, beating Bernhard Langer by 14 days. If that isn’t a good sign…

Edit: the European Tour amassed tons of facts, what this victory means for MK:

  • Gains his first European Tour victory in his first appearance of the 2008 season. (This is his first tournament since the 2007 Volvo Masters)
  • Gains a European Tour exemption until the end of 2010
  • Gains a place in the 2008 World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational
  • Gains a place in the 2009 HSBC Champions
  • Moves to €225,421 (£170,135) in The European Tour Order of Merit
  • Moves to 534876.03 in The European Ryder Cup Points Table
  • Gains his largest European Tour prize of €225,421 (£170,123)
  • Set record for the largest 36 and 54 hole leads in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship (six) and winning margin (four)
  • Set record for the largest 36 and 54 hole leads on the 2008 European Tour season (six) and winning margin (four)
  • His 72 hole total in relation to par 273 (-15) equals the lowest on the 2008 European Tour season, set by Miguel Angel Jiménez (UBS Hong Kong Open)
  • Moves to 34th in the Official World Golf Ranking – the second highest position ever by a German, after Bernhard Langer. As a result of his movement is the youngest player in the current top 50
  • The first German to win on The European Tour since Marcel Siem at the 2004 dunhill championship
  • Like Siem came through the EPD Tour and the European Challenge Tour and win on The European Tour in the space of three seasons
  • Becomes the 53rd German victory in European Tour history
  • Becomes the sixth different German to win on The European Tour, following Alex Cejka, Tobias Dier, Bernhard Langer, Marcel Siem and Sven Strüver
  • Becomes the 349th different player to win in European Tour history since 1972
  • The third first-time winner of the 2008 season, following Richard Finch (Michael Hill New Zealand Open) and James Kingston (South African Airways Open)
  • The first wire-to-wire winner of the 2008 European Tour season and first on The European Tour since Raphaël Jacquelin at the 2007 BMW Asian Open
  • First wire-to-wire winner in the history of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship
  • Joins Chris DiMarco (2006) as players making the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship their first European Tour victory
  • Aged 23 and 24 days is the youngest winner on The 2008 European Tour International Schedule
  • Aged 23 and 24 days becomes the youngest winner of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, beating Paul Casey who was 29 and 184 days in 2007
  • Aged 23 and 24 days becomes the youngest German winner in European Tour history, beating the record of Bernhard Langer, who was 23 and 38 days when he won the 1980 Dunlop Masters
  • The 190th European Tour win by a former European Challenge Tour player
  • The 92nd different former Challenge Tour player to win on The European Tour
  • The fourth win of the 2008 season by a former Challenge Tour player, following Richard Finch (Michael Hill New Zealand Open), John Bickerton (Alfred Dunhill Championship) and Richard Sterne (Joburg Open)
  • His sixth European Tour top ten finish of his European Tour career and third successive tournament where he has finished in the top ten, following the 2007 Portugal Masters and 2007 Volvo Masters
  • His eighth victory as a professional.

 
Date:
January 20th, 2008
Author:
Alexander
Trackback:
Trackback-URL
Category:
Watching the Pros
Previous:
Gut Kaden in January 
Next:
Brilliant Tiger Woods Joke 
 

5 comments so far!

 

  1. Dirk said on January 20th, 2008:

    Congrats, Martin. It was about time :) And if this year goes along like this, maybe we’ll see you in the Ryder Cup!


  2. Alexander said on January 20th, 2008:

    … und der Tagesschau war es mal wieder keine einzige Zeile wert!


  3. The Armchair Golfer said on January 24th, 2008:

    Nice win for Kaymer who looks to have a promising future.


  4. Alexander said on January 24th, 2008:

    Well, we’ll sure hope so! ;-)


  5. Andy Brown said on January 25th, 2008:

    Usually we see that most people peter away after a great first year on the tour. Martin Kaymer has ensured that people must not assume that his performance last year was a flash in the pan. What better way to prove it than to win convincingly in his first start of the season. What a contrasting start to the season with respect to last year. Last year on his debut on the tour he failed to make the cut in Hong Kong.

    One can say he is just continuing from where he left off last year because towards the end of the last season he was stringing together some very good results. Although victory evaded him last season he got the monkey off his back with his very first appearance this season.

    Padraig Harrington has already said publicly that there could be as many as 6 rookies in this years Ryder Cup. When he came up with that figure he had not even considered Martin Kaymer. But Martin is definitely thinking about it .

    Looks like there will a tough fight for places on the Ryder Cup team this year.

    There have been some illustrious names who have won the Sir Henry Cotton rookie of the year award like Tony Jacklin, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and many others. It will be interesting to see if Kaymer can take his career to the heights as achieved by some of these stalwarts of the game.

 

Say something!