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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT PRESENTED BY NATIONWIDE

June 2, 2019

Martin Kaymer

Dublin, Ohio

Q. How is your hand?
MARTIN KAYMER: It kept bleeding. I don't know, I think it was a blister, just opened up. So a bit annoying, but didn't change anything in my golf swing.

Q. When did it start to bother you?
MARTIN KAYMER: It didn't bother me at all. You put some tape on it, and it's fine.

Q. What do you think went wrong over the course of the -- on the back nine?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, 12, 13, 14, 15, those four holes, I made a couple of bogeys and no birdies. The other guys, they made birdies. It was a very vital time. I knew that you can't really make any mistakes coming down the stretch. I don't really know what happened on 13 with the second shot. It was very weird from the fairway. Something was maybe on the ball. Because that golf shot is difficult to hit, so -- and then 15 I didn't make birdie there.

But, I mean, all credit to Patrick. He played a great round of golf. He deserved to win. 19-under par is amazing.

Q. Given the conditions, did you expect a 64 from one of the other contenders as you put a game plan together, what you needed today?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, my goal was to shoot 18-, 19-under par. I thought -- I don't really see someone is shooting 7 or 8-under par from the 11-under group. Obviously he had a good chance, if he would have shot 4- or 5-under par, but 8-under par, especially under different conditions. It's not like where we could get used to the golf course and the way it played. It was different again. All credit to him. He did a good job.

Q. You said no matter what you believe you had a lot of positives. Do you still feel that way?
MARTIN KAYMER: I played good golf all week. Also today, I just didn't make as many putts today. And, again, those four or five holes, I don't want to say it cost me the tournament because you never know, you still need to make the birdies, but I think if I finished 2nd today, it would have been -- it would have been fine. To shoot level par today was my greatest round, but overall I'm very happy the way I play golf, and especially now for the next few weeks coming up.

Q. Did it feel good to have that feeling back being in contention down the final nine? You can't replicate that in practice or on Thursday, Friday. It's its own unique animal?
MARTIN KAYMER: It's not only the back nine, it's the entire day. You look forward to it, you don't know how the day starts. The first nine holes are very important. And I played them really well. I made one little mistake down 9. But overall I was 3-under par after 8 holes, and I missed a short putt on the par-3, 4th.

Overall I was in control of the game. And on the back nine a couple things happened here and there, which happens always. It was just the wrong time. If it would have been the first or second round, it wouldn't be as critical. But if it's the last round, it is. And that's all fine. I really enjoyed the atmosphere the whole week and being in contention here.

Q. You seem like you managed the adrenaline and everything really well.
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, why shouldn't you? (Laughter.) I've been in that position many times. It's not like it's my first time that I was super nervous or anything. The nervousness usually is something I see as something very positive, because it means that you care. If you wouldn't be nervous, then you would be careless. And obviously I was trying to win the golf tournament. It's been a while for me. But it was a good week overall, just for me to see the good results on the scorecard and heading into the U.S. Open now.

Q. What's your plan for preparation for the U.S. Open? Are you going to take a week off?
MARTIN KAYMER: I go to vacation in Cabo (laughter). Yeah, I played so much golf recently, I'm going to play a lot of golf in the next two months because I need to qualify for The Open somehow. So a week off would be nice.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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