Even in a sport with professional results dating back to the 1800s, the overnight news almost universally astounded and amazed.

Key word: almost.

After a four-day display of tactical, practical precision, German star Martin Kaymer ran away with the US Open title at Pinehurst No 2 on Sunday to become the first player from continental Europe to win the American title.

At what usually is considered the toughest test among the major championships, Kaymer led from wire to wire. After a record-breaking start in the first two rounds, he never let anybody closer than four strokes.

It resulted in a Sunday parade lap that produced the second-lowest 72-hole score in US Open history.

“I think we were all playing for second,” runner-up Erik Compton said.

The dominance of Kaymer’s eight-shot victory generated acclaim and amazement – although in the UAE, it was met with knowing nods.

After all, the UAE capital has witnessed Kaymer’s tournament tourniquet act like no other region during his three HSBC Abu Dhabi Championship victories, including a record eight-shot win in 2011, one month before he became world No 1.

Hereabouts, there should be plenty of awe, though not much shock. The only real surprise is that it took Kaymer this long to win his second major because, when the 29-year-old Dusseldorf native gets on a hot streak, we have seen the damage, first-hand.

After a two-year victory drought borne of multiple swing changes, Kaymer won the Players Championship last month in Florida, the fifth-biggest tournament in the sport, holding at least a share of the lead after all four rounds.

He did it again at Pinehurst, opening with a pair of five-under 65s to set a US Open scoring record for 36 holes, eventually becoming the fifth player to win two majors and reach world No 1 before age 30.

It punctuated an abrupt turnaround after too many months of largely forgettable results. He had skidded to 63rd in the world six weeks ago.

Now he is back to world No 11, and climbing, and has secured a place in the DP World Championship in Dubai in November.

Not surprisingly, questions about his swing makeover and two-plus unproductive seasons were broached again after his comprehensive victory.

“I’ve answered that question so many times,” Kaymer said. “Honestly, I get tired of it, I’m sorry. But I just want to become a complete player. That’s it.

“It’s annoying. You don’t want to talk about that all the time. You want to focus on the main thing, and I don’t always have patience to answer every time the same thing.”

He did, anyway.

“I don’t want to be rude to people, so that’s why I kept answering,” he said.

He responded with exclamation marks over the past six weeks.

“It shouldn’t sound cocky or arrogant, but I knew it would come,” said Kaymer, only the 18th player to win the PGA and US Open titles. “I knew I would play good golf again.”

His 271 total over four days was three shots off the US Open record set by Rory McIlroy three years ago on a wet, less-demanding Congressional Country Club course.

“With all respect to Rory, this was a more complete performance than Rory’s,” World Golf Hall of Famer Colin Montgomerie said during the Golf Channel broadcast.

Kaymer drew raves for his seemingly impermeable persona, not that he faced much adversity compared to others.

As well as he played, his biggest obstacle was handling the mental duress that accompanied being the marked man at the most punitive event in the game.

He became the seventh player to win the American national title in wire-to-wire fashion and his eight-shot margin was the biggest in the US this season.

“He’s got the perfect mind for golf,” Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said. “Watching him day after day, play on the leads, watching him work his way through these problems, adversity in the game of golf. He’s almost unflappable.”

It all began with his first European Tour win, in Abu Dhabi, in 2008. Two weeks later at the Dubai Desert Classic, he finished birdie-birdie-eagle, though Tiger Woods held on to win by a stroke.

Even with that kind of UAE pedigree, it was mildly surprising to many when Kaymer was signed to an endorsement deal by Etihad Airways in January. He had not won an official event on the European or PGA tours since November 2011 and was no longer in the world top 40.

The airline hit the lottery, or its marketing staff were prescient.

Or perhaps, given his play here over the years, an old saying applied to a not-so-old player. They had not forgotten that form is fickle, while class is permanent.

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