Kaymer makes it three out of three
Martin Kaymer has made it an incredible three wins in three starts at the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.
Golf’s newest major champion Martin Kaymer on Sunday became the first player to win three times in a row on the European Tour since Tiger Woods four years ago.
In bitterly cold and windy conditions at St Andrews the 25-year-old German added the Dunhill Links title to the US PGA Championship he took in a play-off in August and the KLM Open he ran away with in Holland last month.
But Lee Westwood could not make it a day of double celebration for Europe’s Ryder Cup heroes.
Westwood needed a top-two finish to replace Woods as world number one, but struggling again with his leg injury he fell back from fifth to 11th with a 73.
However, the 37-year-old is pulling out of this coming week’s Portugal Masters – and that makes it certain he will topple Woods at the end of this month.
For Kaymer, now up to world number four and more than £860,000 clear of Graeme McDowell at the top of the European money list, it completed a dream week.
Six days after achieving another victory on his cup debut at Celtic Manor he produced a superb six under par 66 to beat English young guns Danny Willett and John Parry – Walker Cup team-mates three years ago – by three and four shots respectively.
Vicar’s son Willett threatened to spring an upset when he sank a 50-foot eagle putt from off the green at the long 14th and join Kamer in the lead.
But Kaymer wasted no time putting the 23-year-old from Yorkshire in his place. He followed him in from 25 feet for a birdie ofh is own to immediately reclaim the lead and then made his own outrageous 40-footer from left of the 17th green.
And although his final drive finished on Granny Clark’s Wynd, the road crossing the fairway, he hit his second off the tarmac to six feet and made yet another birdie.
Kaymer took the £502,512 first prize with a 17 under par aggregate of 271.
It was his fourth win of the season – and the last person to do that in Europe was also Woods in 2006.
“To make a four at the 17th feels like a birdie, so I don’t know how I managed a three,” he said. “I just tried to focus on the putt.”
And as for playing off the road he added: “I was just trying to get it beyond the flag.”
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