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ABU DHABI GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

January 17, 2008

Martin Kaymer

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

SCOTT CROCKETT: All right, Martin, well done. We saw last year what a good player you were when you won the Rookie of the Year, and you just proved that in your first outing of the season. You must be delighted with your start.
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, it was nice. I had a long break, and since the World Cup, now it was eight or nine weeks ago, and I couldn't wait to come out here because it was a long time that I didn't play a tournament. I came out on Tuesday and it was raining the whole day. Wednesday wasn't good, as well, but now I'm really pleased with this round.
I played very well, made a lot of good putts, and it was not that easy to play today because it was windy. And when I saw Henrik Stenson's round on the leaderboard, he played 5-under, and I said, "Wow, how did he do that?" And now I know (laughter).
SCOTT CROCKETT: It was a great year for you last year, but did you feel you needed a long break because you took quite a lot of time off?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, definitely. I played a lot of tournaments at the beginning of the season, especially in Asia I played almost every tournament, and I felt that the energy was gone. I had to get the feeling back, but I was totally done in November when I played in the World Cup in China, and that's why it was necessary to take a break.
SCOTT CROCKETT: There's no better way to start your season than with an eagle. Talk about the eagle at 10.
MARTIN KAYMER: I hit a really good drive. I was a little nervous to be honest. I hit it really long; I didn't expect that. I only had rescue into the green, hit it like two metres in front of the pole and made the putt.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Talk about the short hole, the 15th.
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, pulled the 8-iron left side in the rough next to the hole, but it was not a long pitch out of the rough, and then two putts.
SCOTT CROCKETT: And then birdie 18. What happened there?
MARTIN KAYMER: Good drive, couldn't reach the green. Played it up like 30, 40 yards from the green, and made a chip putt.
SCOTT CROCKETT: The next par-5, the 2nd?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, good drive, good 3-wood a little behind the green, made a chip putt there.
SCOTT CROCKETT: And three of the last five. You birdied the 5th. What did you do there?
MARTIN KAYMER: 5th was a tough hole today. I hit a good drive, hit another 6-iron very close to the hole. I had just a metre putt from there.
SCOTT CROCKETT: And 7, short hole?
MARTIN KAYMER: 7, I didn't make birdie there, I think, did I? Oh, yeah, the par 3. I made a long putt, like 10, 12 metres.
SCOTT CROCKETT: And then finished off at the 9th.
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I hit it a really good approach, I hit it really close from 180 metres with a 5-iron, very good shot.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Close?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, one metre, something like that, five-foot, four-foot.

Q. What did you do in your time off?
MARTIN KAYMER: Actually I'm practicing. I love to play golf. It doesn't matter if it's a tournament or not. I'm doing a lot of fitness. When I'm not playing a tournament I try to practise as much as I can. But I try to spend some time with my family, as well, with my girlfriend. But it was tough when I was in America because she's living in Spain, which limits us but that's what I do in my spare time.
I was practicing with a Swedish player. We went to Arizona for a couple weeks and practiced together. That was very nice. It was not really a rest, but practise seems like a rest.

Q. Do you feel the pressure of expectation?
MARTIN KAYMER: A lot of people expecting a lot from me. But I try to -- a lot of German journalists, as well, they are writing a lot of nice things about me, and when I read this, I think, oh, I have to play good, otherwise I don't know what's going on in Germany.
But I feel the pressure a little bit, but in a positive way. It motivates me, and I think that's good.

Q. Do your own expectations extend to the Ryder Cup?
MARTIN KAYMER: I mean, a lot of people were asking me that, but I'm not thinking about the Ryder Cup to be honest. My goal for this year is, again, to keep the card and play a lot of rounds. I had the same goal last year already, and I have the same goal this year.
If I make the Ryder Cup it would be nice, but it's actually not in my mind now, definitely not. There are a lot of good players that will play the Ryder Cup. If I make it would be nice. If not -- I'm not expecting it.

Q. Did you get lots of advice from Bernhard Langer?
MARTIN KAYMER: What advice? I was playing only once with Bernhard Langer and that was a practise round in Munich, so we didn't talk that much. He did a lot of good things for German golf. He's a very impressive player. Unfortunately he's playing in the States so we don't see him very much. But he did a lot of things for us, for our German federation.

Q. Was he your role model?
MARTIN KAYMER: At the beginning of my career, it was not really a career when I was 14, 15, he was always a role model. He was our German hero and he's still our German hero. But now my role model is Ernie Els because I like his swing. I played with him in Munich, he seems to be a really nice guy, and that's how it is.

Q. Would you like to be like Els?
MARTIN KAYMER: I mean, in general his personality, how he's reacting on the course. He made an eagle on 18, I can remember that, and all the spectators, they were freaking out because he holed a bunker shot, and he stayed very calm. He said, "Thank you very much." And he was so relaxed the whole round. It didn't matter if he made birdie, bogey, eagle, he was always on the same level, and that was very impressive.
It seems like he doesn't care about his score, and that's nice.

Q. What is the strength of your game?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I think my driving is constantly very steady. I'm not hitting too many balls in the rough. That's actually a strength. And the weak part is probably putting. Today I was putting very well and I was practising a lot in America trying to improve it. Obviously it worked out very well. Normally my putting is the weak part and driving is my strength.

Q. Is the best part of your driving, distance or accuracy?
MARTIN KAYMER: Accuracy. I think my distance is nothing spectacular. I don't know where I ended up last year in the stats. I was probably in the middle somewhere.

Q. (Inaudible.)
MARTIN KAYMER: I mean, I'm hitting the ball not very short. I think I'm pretty much in the middle of the field. Especially today was a really big advantage to hit it a little bit longer than all of the guys. It was still a wedge but not the wedge I was expecting. Especially the par 5s, they were tough to reach today, and if you're a long hitter then you could reach them in two. That's always a big advantage.

Q. Driving compared to Els?
MARTIN KAYMER: He hits it further than I do, like 20 yards. It was very impressive.

Q. Goals now?
MARTIN KAYMER: I feel really relaxed now because my goal was to make the cut. I said earlier I was a little nervous today because if I'm playing really, really well the next three events, then I've got a good chance to play the Match Play in Arizona. That's a big goal. That's probably why I was a little nervous, the pressure was there, but now I feel really relaxed and can't wait to go out there tomorrow morning.

Q. (Question regarding favorite hole.)
MARTIN KAYMER: Now it's hole No. 10, definitely. But they have a lot of good holes out there. But I like the par 3s. They are very tough. You have to make good shots. But actually they have not like -- I don't have any favourite holes. All of them are nice holes. There are not many holes where I would say, I don't like this hole, I don't like this tee shot.
Maybe hole No. 3. It was a par 4, dogleg to the left. It's kind of a weird tee shot but still a really good hole. I like every hole, actually.

Q. How did you start playing golf?
MARTIN KAYMER: I was playing football the last -- I started football when I was two years old, very, very early, and my father, he took my brother and me to the golf course, to a public range, and we tried to hit some balls. I was getting more and more golf, then I was playing football and going to have to decide. When I was 14 I had to decide what I wanted to play. I couldn't play both because it was too much time. Then I decided to play golf. But now my whole family is playing, my father, my mother, my brother.

Q. What made you choose?
MARTIN KAYMER: You mean why did I choose golf? It's an individual sport. When you're playing football you've got 10 other guys with you, and right now I'm my own boss. I can decide whatever I want. I think it's the best thing you can get.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Looks like we're all done. Martin, thanks for that. Well done.

End of FastScripts

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