Dubai: World No. 4 Martin Kaymer may have sunk his first ever hole-in-one yesterday, but it was his physio Rolf Klottschen who was jumping for joy.
The highlight of the 2010 Race to Dubai winner's five under par second round 67 at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic was an eight-iron ace on the par three, 186-yard seventh hole. The German is now 11 under par overall on 133, two shots off Rory McIlroy.
But despite Kaymer's frank admission that the lack of an elusive hole-in-one had overshadowed his year in 2010 — when he reached the world and European No.1 spots for the first time and won his first major — a tinge of sadness surrounded the end to his wait.
Klottschen fined Kaymer €20 (Dh97.50) for every round of golf in which the 27-year-old didn't sink an ace, ever since Kaymer put it on top of his to-do list more than 18 months ago following the 2010 Dubai World Championship. This was part of an the understanding that, if he did one day make a hole-in-one, Rolf would take the prize — on this occasion a watch from tournament sponsors Omega.
Perfect yardage
Kaymer said: "I hit it perfect yardage. In fact I thought it was a little short but fortunately it had the right distance and pitched a little short and rolled in. It's my first ever hole-in-one.
"I thought it has to happen at least once in my career. Obviously you need to hit a good shot and you need a lot of luck and that happened today. I've been talking about it happening every week.
"I had a little deal with my physio that on every hole where I can win something like a car or a watch [with a hole-in-one] he gives me €10 or €20. If I don't make the hole-in-one, then I get the money. If I do make the hole-in-one, he gets the prize. So I think I've come up a little short now.
"It's a beautiful watch, but he deserves it. He does a good job. I will give him the watch because I lost the agreement so I have to pay, but he will pay for dinner the rest of the week that's for sure."
Of his round, Kaymer said: "I played similar to Thursday, hit a lot of tee shots, a lot of fairways, a lot of good iron shots. I don't make a lot of mistakes at the moment, so that creates a lot of birdie chances. On Thursday I hit many good golf shots on the first nine, but I couldn't make any birdies, and that was a little frustrating. But you've just got to keep telling yourself to be patient and obviously it worked out on the back nine on Thursday.
"Friday was similar. I had a lot of birdie chances. Not everything went in, but I had a lot of chances and, if I keep avoiding mistakes, I should be fine. You can hit good shots and hope [for an ace] but its luck there's not a lot of influence. The most important thing is I made two under par on one hole and got close to the leader."
Award
Aqua Terra watch for seventh hole ace
For his hole-in-one, Germany's Martin Kaymer was presented an Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Chronometer.
The 41.5mm Seamaster Aqua Terra, distinguished by the vertical lines on its dial, features an 18ct red gold case and matching bracelet.
Omega, the tournament's title sponsor, had announced that it would present the Aqua Terra to the first golfer to score a hole-in-one on the 186-yard par three seventh hole at Emirates Golf Course in Dubai.
— A.H.
