Kaymer claims wire-to-wire win
Martin Kaymer survived a late wobble to win the Players Championship by one shot at TPC Sawgrass.
Starting the final round with a three-shot lead alongside youngster Jordan Spieth, the German stuttered to a one-under-par 71 to finish at 13 under for the tournament, one stroke better than Jim Furyk with Sergio Garcia another shot adrift and Spieth and Justin Rose at 10 under.
Kaymer, whose last victory on the PGA Tour came at the 2010 PGA Championship, appeared to be set for a straightforward victory after he built a four-shot lead on the back of three birdies in his first 11 holes, but things unraveled later on.
First there was a delay because of lightning in the area and then he carded a double-bogey six at the 15th to see his big lead disappear. He then needed three pars, including one at the infamous 17th, to stay head.
“It’s very special for me,” he told Golf Channel. “It is always very difficult to come back after a little (weather) break.
“Obviously you see the leaderboard, you see where you are. The first 14 holes, I played really, really well. And then you are really disappointed when they called it (halted play).
“And then you are a little cold. I made a couple of wrong decisions on 15. But a big putt on 17.”
Furyk finished with a flawless six-birdie 66 to finish second with Garcia signing off with a two-under 70.
Spieth fell away quite badly as he mixed two bogeys with two birdies on the front nine and then dropped three more shots on the back nine before finishing with a birdie at the 18th for two-over-par 74.
Current US Open champion Rose was steady throughout the tournament, following up his scores of 67, 71 and 71 with a 69 that had six birdies and three bogeys.
Lee Westwood carded a final round of 70 to be tied for sixth with four other players including Rory McIlroy, who finished on a high after his 66 included eight birdies, six of them coming on the back nine, and two bogeys.
“Any time you shoot 66, you move up a lot of spots on the leaderboard,” he said. “I think I was 120th at one point in this golf tournament on Friday afternoon, so to go from there to finishing in the top 10 is a good effort.”
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