Sport | Golf
Stunning!
Overnight leader Kaymer shines in second round as well to maintain sparkling run of form in his first competitive tournament of the year.
- By Sarah Tregoning, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:12 January 18, 2008
- Image Credit: Karl Jeffs/Gulf News
- German Martin Kaymer in action during the second round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club's National Course on Friday.
Abu Dhabi :The overnight leader at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championships is the only player not to have a sponsor's logo adorning his baseball cap.
But that will surely be remedied very soon as the 23-year-old German displayed class, calm and cunning to shoot a second-round 65 and lead closest competitor, Dubai's desert specialist Henrik Stenson, by an astonishing six shots.
It would have been impossible to tell that Thursday represented his first competitive golf of the year as Martin Kaymer went round what many have described as a tough 72-par course in an unruffled first-round 66.
He turned pro in 2005 and enjoyed a remarkable 2006 on the Challenge Tour where he played just eight events and winning two, ended up in fourth place on the final rankings.
Kaymer was named the European Tour Rookie of the Year in 2007 and is a name that will surely be heading up leaderboards in the future after he started out the day with a birdie at the first, went on to give seven other holes the same treatment and dropped just a single shot at the sixth.
But the youngster does not plan to let success go to his head. He admires the steadfast Ernie Els and hopes to emulate his assured, unflinching game.
Being calm
"I try to be always calm," he said yesterday. "I try to be that kind of person on the golf course and off the golf course and to stay on the same level.
"I mean, I'm not freaking out like a few guys do on the Tour, they are special but still nice people. I try to be more like the Ernie Els type of player."
And he will need to be calm as he goes into today's competition with a legion of big names behind him who will be only too happy to grab the lead should he allow the pressure to affect his game.
Stenson aside, Kaymer has opened up a commanding lead over the six-under par Steve Webster of England and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain, who both posted 68.
Ian Poulter lags behind on a four-under 70 ending on 140 while Australia's Adam Scott seems out of touch with a 2-under 74 finishing the day on 142.
"I'll stick to my game plan and go out there and attack," said Kaymer. "I have to stay calm and fight a little bit against myself. I've never been in this position before so I will just see how it is," he added.
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