A second wave of European success to match that of the 80s crew helmed by the late Seve Ballesteros and featuring his mentor Bernhard Langer is on the way, believes world number three Martin Kaymer as he bids for a unique PGA Championship double at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this week.
Kaymer’s win at Whistling Straits last year led to him claiming the number one in the world and the acclaim of his peers who voted him players’ player of the year at the tour’s gala dinner on Tuesday.
He arrives in Surrey aiming to be the first man to hold both transatlantic versions of the PGA titles at the same time, at the centre of a group of players ensuring that European Tour golf enjoys as high a profile as it did when Seve and his vanguard of Faldo, Lyle, Langer and Woosnam swept through the game.
However the 25-year-old believes that a man missing from Wentworth this week due to a wrist injury was the catalyst for the modern group in the same way that Seve was for the 80s greats.
“I think the European Tour and (executive director) George O’Grady can be really proud of their work the last few years,” said the German.
“But I really believe it started with Padraig Harrington when he started winning majors.
“That gave myself and a lot of Europeans the belief. Everybody was thinking that only Americans win the majors, Tiger, Phil and those guys. But then Padraig, when he won three majors, and then Graeme McDowell won the US Open, and it’s all come from there.
“It’s like a wave. Padraig won in 2007 and then won two in ’08, which was an unbelievable achievement.
“And then two years later, we won two more, three or four if you think of Louis (Oosthuizen) and Charl (Schwartzel), and we all think of them as European Tour players.”More majorsThe reaction of their younger peers to the successes of the new wave should result in more majors, believes Kaymer.
He said, “You can see it when Graeme won the US Open, at the Open just a month later Rory all of the sudden was up there.
“It doesn’t really matter who you are or how old you are. There are so many great golfers at the moment that it’s not about the top five in the world there are 20, 30, almost 40 guys who can win majors these days, and I think we are very fortunate to have a lot of Europeans in that group.”
Kaymer lost out to Luke Donald at last week’s Volvo Matchplay, as he did in the final of WGC Matchplay event in Arizona, and he suspects that the consistent Englishman, second to Simon Khan last year, is poised to be the third European in three months to claim the coveted world number one slot.
He said, “Lee (Westwood) has been number one, I’ve been number one I think Luke deserves it for at least a week, until I get it off him again!
“Last week there was no chance for me, he just played unbelievable.”
Kaymer has split with Scots caddie Craig Connelly and for the time being has his law student brother Phillip on the bag, but will look for a permanent bagman after the US Open.
Connelly didn’t have long to wait to find re-employmemt after he split with the German after the Players only five days, in fact, before he got another Ryder Cup star’s bag in the shape of Italian Francesco Molinari.
Connelly’s former employer Paul Casey was keen to have him back after the Englishman split with his caddie Christian Donald Luke’s brother but the highly-rated Glaswegian had already opted for the younger of the Italian brothers, winner of the WGC event in Shanghai last autumn.
Kaymer, meanwhile, will play with new Masters champion Schwartzel in the first round on Thursday with England’s Justin Rose making up the three-ball.
Favourite Donald is out with US Open champion McDowell and defending champion Khan in the morning starters, one group ahead of Westwood and two before a crowd-pleasing three-ball featuring young stars Rory McIlroy and Matteo Manassero along with veteran and recent Mallorca Open winner Darren Clarke.