Louisville: Reigning US Open champion Martin Kaymer, nagged by a sore shoulder at the British Open, on Tuesday pronounced himself fit for the PGA Championship as he seeks a third major title.
Kaymer was a runaway winner of the US Open two months ago at Pinehurst after jumping ahead by six strokes after 36 holes on his way to an eight-stroke triumph and his second major title after the 2010 PGA Championship.
But last month at the British Open, the 29-year-old German was bothered by shoulder issues that hampered his practice sessions at Hoylake.
“Once in a while you wake up and you have a little issue here and there,” Kaymer said. “The shoulder was quite surprising for me because I really couldn’t hit one normal golf shot until Thursday morning, so at the British Open my practice rounds were very limited.
“But now everything is fine. It just came out of nowhere. It’s just something that you have to deal with when it comes up, but it’s nothing major.”
This week’s showdown at Valhalla is the year’s last major, however, and Kaymer has some experience with the course from watching Europe lose to the United States in the 2008 Ryder Cup.
“The overview was brilliant,” Kaymer said. “I learned a lot and it was a huge inspiration for me to make the 2010 team.”
Kaymer is again looking for a fast start early to get ahead of the field in his quest for another major crown, although his last one came after a victory in May at the Players Championship.
“You can prepare yourself as good as possible for these big events, but there’s always some luck involved,” Kaymer said.
“I’m not playing bad, otherwise I wouldn’t have won those two big events. It’s just a matter of finding that momentum fairly early in the tournament.”
