When Martin Kaymer made the Ryder Cup clinching putt to complete the Miracle at Medinah in 2012, it came as a surprise. The putt was not a gimme, and Kaymer was at a shaky point in his career -- he just wasn’t the same guy who rose to No. 1 in the world and had won a major championship. In terms of candidates Europe could ask to take the deciding putt, Kaymer was near the bottom of the 12-man roster.
European Ryder Cup hero Martin Kaymer returns in 2014 with even better game
Following the best season of his career, the former world No. 1 comes to the Ryder Cup as one of several Euro superstars that have the home team heavy favorites.
Well that’s far from the case this year, as Kaymer rolls into Gleneagles off a dominant season in which he captured two of the five biggest events in the game, and in convincing fashion. He set records with his 8-shot U.S. Open win at Pinehurst, which came just a month after his dramatic win at The Players, the most lucrative tournament in the game. It was the kind of German machine we expected to see regularly when Kaymer rose to world No. 1. But after messing around with his swing, mostly to hit a better draw so his game would be better-suited to Augusta, he tumbled out of the world rankings and became irrelevant. He stopped contending and was totally unreliable at the biggest events. The Ryder Cup putt was one of the highlights during his stretch wandering the wilderness for his old game.
Kaymer’s memorable reaction to the 2012 clinching putt, via David Cannon
Despite those troubles, this season’s successes didn’t come as a surprise -- he’s always had the talent and a been maniacal worker on the range. Following Pinehurst, it seemed like he could roll to another major before the summer was out -- he looked that dominant. Rory McIlroy, of course, took over and Kaymer struggled a bit with a shoulder injury he did not disclose and few knew he was hobbled by at the Open. But by the end of the season, he recaptured some of his better form, playing well in the FedEx Cup and getting his game in shape for this week’s match play. The Americans have to hope he’s wiped out from a long year and looks more like the guy from July and August.
Kaymer is another one of those versatile Euros who could be paired with several teammates. There’s been some rumbling that he’ll be paired up with Rory McIlroy for at least a portion of the two-man sessions, which would put three of the four major championships this year in one duo. That would instantly become a prime target for the American side, as picking up even a halve would be a mental boost for Tom Watson’s group. If he’s healthy and not too fatigued, the German is just another of the several Euro superstars that make the home team such a favorite.
Age: 29
World ranking: 12
Ryder Cup record (Win-Loss-Halve): 3-2-1
Past Ryder Cup appearance: 2010, 2012
How he qualified: Automatic spot -- 3rd on World Points List
