Martin Kaymer says Abu Dhabi Golf Championship is an ‘open competition’

Tournament's only three-time champion downplays his chances this week after changes to the National Course, writes John McAuley.

Martin Kaymer of Germany in action during the pro-am prior to the start of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Cub on January 14, 2015 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (PhotShow more

ABU DHABI // Traipsing around the National Course yesterday, performing obligatory pre-tournament pro-am duties, Martin Kaymer probably became flush with an acute sense of empathy.

The German was back at a competitive event for the first time since the off-season, a period in which he broke from tradition to spend five days on a ski slope in Italy.

Following a 2014 that solidified with victory at the Players Championship and snowballed with a US Open win and a key role in Europe’s triumphant Ryder Cup team, Kaymer saw the piste as an opportunity to finally decompress.

So, having banked in excess of €2 million (Dh8.7m) in the Race to Dubai alone last year, he splashed the cash on some of the finest equipment money could buy.

Appearances, though, can be deceiving.

“It’s like sometimes we see in the pro-am,” Kaymer said yesterday. “Guys who don’t hit the ball very well but look great, have great equipment, are spotless. That’s the way I looked on the ski slope. No idea what I’m doing, don’t even know how to get the shoe in the ski, but I looked great and had all the protection.”

He usually looks the part in Abu Dhabi, too. Kaymer is the tournament’s only three-time winner, and he holds several records stretching back to an eight-shot victory in 2011.

That was the last time he raised the Falcon trophy, though. The past few years in the desert have been uncharacteristically barren, and the course has been tweaked this year, leaving Kaymer to downplay his chances.

“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, we have to beat only you this week’. It’s not only me; there are a few other guys out there,” Kaymer said. “It’s always an open competition.

“I’ve had success here, but the golf course has changed quite a lot. For me, it became a little bit more complicated. They have changed a few greens, a few tee boxes, so therefore it’s not a given that I will win this.”

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