Germany’s Martin Kaymer has powered his way to a three shot lead on day one of the 2014 U.S. Open.
Kaymer shot a five under par 65 on the Pinehurst course in North Carolina.
The reigning Players Championship winner, with Scotland’s Craig Connelly on the bag, stormed past the trio of Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, American Kevin Na and South African Branden De Jong, to birdie three of his closing four holes on day one of the Germany’s seventh straight U.S. Open appearance.
Kaymer arrived in Pinehurst with a U.S. Open best of 8th in 2010 and some two months before he captured the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits on the shoreline of Lake Michigan.
Martin Kaymer storms his way to a three shot lead on the first day of the 2014 U.S. Open. (Photo: Eoin Clarke www.golffile.ie)
Now the 29-year old has given himself a superb springboard into the next three rounds of this year’s U.S. Open.
The Dusseldorf-born player was then interviewed after his round and here is his response.
Q. Did you ever think 65 was possible out there?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, I got asked yesterday what score I would take for the whole week and I said 8 over par, so hopefully that’s not going to happen. Because the golf course, I thought, played a little more difficult on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, they must have put a little more water on the greens last night. I thought it was very playable. And even the afternoon, we could stop the ball fairly well on the greens. So I just didn’t make many mistakes. I hit a lot of good golf shots. Finally I could make some putts on 15, 16 and 17. And on 18. So it was a really nice way to finish.
Q. At what point did you say to yourself I need to change that mindset about the over par score? Did you realize you had a chance to take advantage?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, it’s only the first round and usually the golf course only gets more difficult. So I think if you stay around level par, you can’t be that far away from winning the golf tournament. Even though I shot 5-under par now, which is obviously an exceptional score, it’s very nice to lead the tournament right now. But I was very surprised that the golf course played fairly soft, because it was very firm the first — like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So they must have changed something.
Q. It was a remarkable performance today, how do you explain it?
MARTIN KAYMER: How do I explain it? I think I’m — obviously the PLAYERS, that made a big difference on the confidence level. And then I think three or four birdies that were very short putts, like between two and five feet, that you should make. Fortunately I could make them. And a couple of putts on 16 and 17. So overall I just hit very good shots. I didn’t miss many greens, and therefore I could avoid a lot of bogeys.
Q. And the confidence after the PLAYERS, we were talking the other day, you said you are believing in yourself and enjoying playing again?
MARTIN KAYMER: It’s always nice if you don’t think much about technique, and just focus on the main things, the yardages, and where you want to pitch the ball, and not thinking too much if you hit it not too good where would it end up. It’s pretty much very straightforward thinking, very positive thinking. Today I hit a couple 6-irons on 15 and 16. They were too good. I hit them so pure that they were unfortunately behind the green on 15. But it’s not a bad judgment, it was just — I’m actually happy about the shot, even though it ended up in a bad position, but it was a great golf shot. So I see things very positive right now. There’s not much negative. And I really enjoy playing golf that way.
Q. What helped you get out of your slump?
MARTIN KAYMER: Slump is a tough word. I wouldn’t call it a slump, I would call it a learning process, an adjustment. And the question was — when I got out? You know, I stopped working on technique pretty much the middle of the March, beginning of April. It was just about the right time for the Masters and the whole season, trying to get into the Ryder Cup team.
Q. What was the biggest thing you took away from your win at the Players?
MARTIN KAYMER: The way I won. After the rain delay, for me the day was over. I didn’t think we were going to play again. So mentally I was out. I was already somewhere having sushi and planning when I was going to have to get up in the morning. And all of a sudden the referees came up and said we have to go out again, in 15, 20 minutes you have to be back in position. That was tough to get mentally back into that extreme position or situation, that was very difficult. And obviously after the double bogey it was quite an obvious wake up.
