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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 24, 2011Martin KaymerSURREY, ENGLAND MICHAEL GIBBONS: Martin, many, many thanks for joining us, as always, BMW PGA Championship. I know you were here last month for a Media Day, a lot of us saw you then but just give us your thoughts on the week ahead and how big of a tournament this is. MARTIN KAYMER: I'm really excited to see the golf course after the changes again. Haven't seen it yet. Obviously a lot of World Ranking points this week. I'm sure that question will come, No. 1. So that's why obviously it's a big tournament. I think probably the best field he ever had here. I don't even know if -- I don't know if some Americans came over. They were there last week in Spain. But obviously it's a fantastic venue, always a tournament that I wanted to win, because it's the home of The European Tour, still, I think, even though we moved a little bit to Dubai. But for me, it's still the home of The European Tour. It would be fantastic to raise the trophy one day. MICHAEL GIBBONS: And what do you make of the changes themselves. MARTIN KAYMER: I've not seen them, no. Q. You've got a new caddie this week? MARTIN KAYMER: No. My brother. Q. Still your brother? MARTIN KAYMER: He's the old, new one. Q. Will it be permanently your brother or will you look for somebody? MARTIN KAYMER: No. Just this week, and then I will two weeks before I play again. So I will play the U.S. Open next and I think in those two weeks, I'm sure I'm going to find someone. I talked to Johan yesterday already and he got some requests already. Q. How many, I wonder. MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, you should ask him. There were quite a few. (Smiling). Q. How exciting is it to be involved in European golf right now, at this moment when it just seems to be we are on top of the world? MARTIN KAYMER: I think The European Tour, I think George O'Grady can be really proud of his work the last few years. I think why the Europeans became so successful, I really believe it started with Harrington when he won the Majors, when he started winning Majors. I think that gave myself a lot of Europeans the belief that even, you know, everybody was thinking, the Americans, they can only win the Majors, Tiger, Phil and those guys. But you know, Pádraig, when he won three Majors, and then Graeme McDowell won the U.S. Open, I think, what I said earlier, everything started with Pádraig, I believe. Q. Is it like a wave, like we had all those years ago when Seve began it, and then Ian Woosnam and Faldo came in? MARTIN KAYMER: It's definitely some kind of those things, yeah. I believe, you know, when Pádraig won, what was the first one in 2007, and then he won two in '08, which is an unbelievable achievement. And then two years later, we won two, three, Graeme -- MICHAEL GIBBONS: Got all four of them now. MARTIN KAYMER: Now we do. But Charl -- well, we call him European (laughter). So I think everything started with him. Q. So is it because you've all come up at about the same time and seeing each other and seeing somebody go out and win something and you think, when I play with him, I can do that? MARTIN KAYMER: You can see it when Graeme won the U.S. Open, the next major, Rory all of the sudden was up there, and he said in his interview, he said, Graeme showed him a little bit that he can do it. You know, that it doesn't really matter who you are. It doesn't matter how old you are. At the moment, there are so many people in the world of golf, so many great golfers, that it's not always about the top 5 in the world. There are 20, 30, almost 40 guys who can win major these days, and that is very exciting, and I think we are very fortunate to have a lot of Europeans up there. Q. What I meant does, it spur you on? MARTIN KAYMER: It does. It gives you motivation. It gives you the belief that it's not always about Tiger Woods, what it was before, the last five or six years when he was No. 1 in the world. But what I said, when Pádraig won and Graeme won, you know, it's about other people, as well. Q. After what you said about Luke Donald when he beat you on the Sunday, were you relieved to see that he is human? MARTIN KAYMER: That he lost, you mean? Q. Well, you said he was machine-like? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, he played unbelievable. I just had no chance. I won only one hole, and that was the only golf shot that he missed. Of course he missed a few here and there, but a miss with him is still okay. You know that if he doesn't hole a chip, it's a gym my. And he had only two 2-putts in 14 holes. So I didn't really see a chance. And you have to accept it; that he was just the better golfer that day. Q. Was it the best golf you've ever seen? MARTIN KAYMER: Close. It was fantastic, yeah. It was very impressive to see. If he misses the green, I told my brother, you know, there was one hole, the 11th hole, the par 5, he was somewhere 120, 130 yards away and I was closer to the green, maybe 40, 50 yards, but I knew I had to make the up-and-down to square the hole. And of course, he made birdie. But fortunately, I hit the longer putt, mine lipped in and his was in the middle of the hole again. It felt like, I mean, give me a chance, you know (shrugging shoulders). There was no chance for me that morning. Q. If that wasn't the best golf you've ever seen, what was? MARTIN KAYMER: When I played with Lee, I think it was in the practise round in The Ryder Cup was unbelievable. He didn't play golf for a long time before that, but then when he came -- when we played together I think on Wednesday, that was impressive. He didn't miss any golf shot for nine holes, and that was quite nice to see. Q. When you sort of came on the Tour, talking about Harrington, when you started playing competitively on the Tour, was he seen as larger-than-life bigger, having won? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, there were a lot of guys that I was very impressed by but Harrington, he was definitely one of those, yeah. Q. Another question, will you get the chance before you won at Whistling Straits, did you get a chance to pick his brain -- MARTIN KAYMER: If I picked what? MICHAEL GIBBONS: Did you ever ask him about what you had to do to win a major? MARTIN KAYMER: No, I didn't. I didn't expect myself to be in that position that early in my career. I knew that I can win a major one day. But that was pretty much the first time that I was in contention to have a chance to win a major, and it happened straightaway. So before that playoff, I couldn't ask anybody. Q. And when you saw Harrington, did you sort of judge what you needed to do to get up to his level? MARTIN KAYMER: No, I didn't. It was just at The Ryder Cup, he came up to me, a lot of guys, they said, hey, well done, congratulations. But he said it in a different way. You could see that he really meant it. He was very -- he said, "You did a very good job, the way you played." I don't know if he was proud, but it felt like that he meant it. It was very honest, you know. And those things, they mean a lot in the end. That shows that he cares and that he was happy for me. Q. Probably sounds a bit trivial, you lose to Luke and you lose the chance to go to No. 1, he loses to Ian and the chance to go to No. 1; is this going to carry on for a while? MARTIN KAYMER: Luke is getting closer and closer. I think the way he plays golf, he deserves to be the No. 1. Lee has been and has been the No. 1. I've been the No. 1. I think Luke, he deserves to be up there, for a week, and then I'll try to get the spot again. (Laughter). Q. How many awards are you getting tonight? MARTIN KAYMER: I don't know. Q. You haven't been told? MARTIN KAYMER: No idea. Q. One or -- MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I got the invitation and I heard yesterday, Mark Watson came up to me and said, "I have a surprise for you tomorrow night." Okay. But I have no clue. I got the honorary membership on The European Tour already. That was quite nice. I got that last year in Dubai. So it can't be that one. I mean, I don't know. Q. So the players' Player of the Year for last season, has that been announced? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I think it was tied between Graeme McDowell and me. Q. Of the players? MARTIN KAYMER: I don't know. Did I win? Q. I don't know? MARTIN KAYMER: You do know. (Laughter). MICHAEL GIBBONS: Find out tonight. Q. People were very impressed with the way you handled becoming Major Champion and the way you rebounded from it and kept on performing and winning; did you find it more difficult to rebound after becoming world No. 1? Did you find it more pressure being world No. 1 playing than being a major champion? MARTIN KAYMER: The expectations were very high after me becoming No. 1 in the world. Me winning a major, there were a lot of major champions who, yeah, obviously who won the major and didn't win again. But for me, just for myself, it was important to keep playing well. And it was not because of that major, even if I wouldn't have won that major, I would have practised and played the same way. Being No. 1; you know, the expectations is like you will win every week, and if you don't win, what happened. That's tough to satisfy people. And I think the German media, as well, they were expecting me to win every week. So it was not easy. But people who know that game, and who know the sport, know that you can't win every week, and that's why it's very impressive what Tiger Woods did for many years, you know, to stay up there for five, six, seven years without losing that spot; that he played very consistent, good golf the few tournaments that he played, but that is very difficult to do. And to handle that pressure that you don't put on yourself, but that other people put on you, that's a little bit tough at the beginning, but if it happens, and I become No. 1 again one day, then I know how to handle that, because of that experience. Q. Did it surprise you? MARTIN KAYMER: Of course. There was a lot going on. You don't have as much time for yourself and for practise, and if you have to do things that you don't really want to do, but you kind of like have to do, then you feel like, obviously, there's a reason why I became No. 1 because I could practise and I could do things for myself that were necessary to play good golf, and now other people take that time away from me. I think it's more about organisation and planning things, and that is what I have learned. Q. You're considerably younger than most of these other guys fighting for the No. 1 spot, does that give you an advantage or disadvantage, do you think? MARTIN KAYMER: I think both of them. Luke and Westwood, they are still hungry, you know. They are not that old. They are quite fit. These days, if you have a look in the Top-10, there's no one really old. It's not really an advantage or a disadvantage I think. Q. Do you think Pádraig Harrington is looking old? MARTIN KAYMER: Looking old? No. He's not in the Top-10 but he's not old. Q. He's having a hard time, though, joking apart, he is having a hard time? MARTIN KAYMER: I think he's working on his swing a little bit. The last couple of years he has not played as good as before but I played with him in Abu Dhabi when he shot 7-under the first round, and I played with him in Charlotte a few weeks ago where he played good golf, but didn't really get that much out of his game. He didn't score that well. I think it's just a matter of time that he will win again for sure. Q. Where were you in 2007, Carnoustie? MARTIN KAYMER: 2007, I arrived on Tour here. Q. Were you actually in Carnoustie? MARTIN KAYMER: No, I didn't qualify. I didn't play the qualifying. Q. Do you think if Harrington's success spurred the other Europeans on, is any of that happening in Germany where your success is spurring anybody else on? Is there any indication of that? MARTIN KAYMER: You can see the girl, Sandra Gal, she won on the LPGA in America recently. And I think two years ago, there were two Germans, they were in a playoff in The Challenge Tour. I think it's getting a little bit bigger, a little more serious now. I just hope that -- we have enough Germans, we have enough golfers, enough talent in Germany, but in the end of the day, it depends on them; that they work hard, that they really want it, that they put the work in that it requires to come good. But I hope that my success inspires some guys in Germany. Q. But apart from being an inspiration, is there anything else that you can do? MARTIN KAYMER: Well, if they ask me, they can always call me, you know, and ask me questions. I know the possibilities that we have in Germany, they are enough to become good, but to become great, I think you have to do a little bit more than that. What I did in the wintertime, for example, five years ago, when I decided to go somewhere else in the world to practise and prepare for the new season to work on short game, well, it's not possible in Germany in the wintertime. You just have to maybe go step one, one step further, one step more in order to become great, or in order to become as successful as you dream about. But in the end of the day, it all depends on you, if you really want it or don't want it. A lot of people explain why it's not possible; they always have some excuses for things. And if you really want it, it's possible I think. Q. Is it more popular with kids now than ever, do you think? MARTIN KAYMER: In Germany, for sure, yeah. We have at my school, where I went to school, they offer golf in the afternoon now. In my gym in Germany, you can do some golf now. So it's getting bigger now. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Martin, good luck for the week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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