Kaymer relishing capital return

The career of the 2007 European Rookie of the Year took off after he won his first professional title here two years back and the National course suits his style of play.

Martin Kaymer faces a strong field in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.

Lee Westwood, confirmed in November as Europe's top golfer, confessed to being awestruck by some of the lines taken off the tee by Germany's Martin Kaymer on the way to an outstanding victory in the Abu Dhabi Championship two years ago.

Kaymer, by no means a physical colossus, tamed the National course in the UAE capital in similar fashion to the way Westwood mastered Greg Norman's new Earth course to win the lucrative Dubai World Championship and with it the first Race to Dubai. The championship course, in its third year at the time as a European Tour venue, was ideal for the cavalier driving style of Kaymer, who took charge from the opening day with a brilliant 66 and could afford an untidy 74 on the final afternoon and still win by four strokes.

Kaymer, who came within a shot last year of catching runaway leader Paul Casey and making a successful defence of what was his maiden professional title, is in the mood to claim back the distinctive Falcon Trophy from Casey and a host of other powerful contenders in the hunt for next week's first leg of the Desert Swing. "Since winning in Abu Dhabi, I've been really pleased with how my game has come on and I'm always looking at ways to better myself," said Kaymer, 25, who has added three more titles to his collection in the intervening two years.

"I've been doing a lot of work over the winter to get back up to my peak and I'm looking forward to mounting a strong challenge." Kaymer, the 2007 European Tour Rookie of the Year, might have deprived Westwood of his end-of-season Dubai double had he not missed a crucial part of last season recovering from a foot injury pursuing his love for thrills and spills. A go-kart crash stalled his progress in the Race to Dubai, the renamed order of merit, but he was still in contention to win it in the Jumeirah Golf Estates finale. He had to settle for third place behind England's Westwood and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy.

He enjoys playing in the region and is expected to repeat his schedule of last year in moving on to the Qatar Masters and then the Dubai Desert Classic in which he finished joint fourth behind McIlroy last year. "Coming back to Abu Dhabi is always a fantastic experience as it holds great memories for me," he said. "It will always be the place I clinched my first victory and every time I step out I'm reminded of that feeling. I think there is no better way to start the season than to come back to Abu Dhabi and put in a great result."

Kaymer knows it will be a tall order to match Casey's record of two Abu Dhabi titles after seeing the powerful entry list for the ?1.5million (Dh8m) tournament. As well as having to overcome the defending champion, he must account for the supremely confident Westwood, the precocious McIlroy and top players like Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim and Geoff Ogilvy. "It's great to see that many of the guys who were in the mix for the Race to Dubai will be in Abu Dhabi," Kaymer added.

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