On Sunday, moments after I finished my final round at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, I glanced up at the electronic leaderboard outside the clubhouse and saw Martin Kaymer leading the tournament by 10 shots at 23 under par.

I was speaking to a couple of journalists at that time and they must have noted the look on my face because the next question was on the German.

I was completely in awe of what Martin was doing. Although the wind that was blowing around the golf course on the practice days gave way by the time the actual rounds began, I still could not see someone reaching 20-plus under par score early in the final round. He really was making a mockery of the golf course and the rest of the field.

And then Martin became the victim of the vagaries of golf. For someone who could not do any wrong in the first 59 holes, he could not do anything right in the last 13 and incredibly lost the tournament to Gary Stal.

Honestly, like most fans, I never saw that coming. There is no denying the fact that form can be very fickle in golf. There are times when you are playing horribly out there and, with just one good shot, something clicks and there is a 180-degree transformation.

The opposite is true as well.

More than his form, it was a case of luck running out on Martin. The putts that were dropping from everywhere on the first three days, refused to go into the hole on Sunday, and he paid a huge price for hitting just two errant drives — one on the ninth, which resulted in a double bogey, and one on the 13th, which ended up in a triple bogey.

Even though everyone will say that Martin handed over the Falcon Trophy to Stal, the young Frenchman needs to be complimented to get himself into a position from where he could benefit from Martin’s largesse. It surely wasn’t easy for him, because he knew he had become the leader with four holes left to play. That would have upped the pressure on him immensely, but he handled it well.

Rory McIlroy finished second once again and he must be wondering what else he could have done to win his first title in Abu Dhabi. I was looking up at some of the stats and it was amazing that he found 35 out of 36 greens in regulation over the weekend. That’s some seriously good ball-striking and, while it may not have won him the tournament, it just shows how dangerous Rory is going to be in the days to come.

Personally, I was happy to have played consistently for the four rounds without being spectacular at any stage. I needed the four rounds of competition play to get my year off to a good start. I felt I drove the ball well, which is very important for me, but the short game needs some sharpening.

We are in Doha this week for the Qatar Masters and hopefully, by the time I reach Dubai for the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, I’ll be more in control of my game.

— Jeev Milkha Singh is a four-time champion on the European Tour