Germany’s Martin Kaymer was in sizzling form around the TPC Sawgrass course equaling the course record with a nine under par 63.

The 2010 PGA Champion went out from the 1oth tee to be two under par after nine holes but stormed home with seven birdies over his inward half including birding his last four holes.

Kaymer’s score matched the Stadium course record first set 22 years ago in the third round by American Fred Couples and then matched on day one in 1994 by Greg Norman and then last year American Roberto Castro equaled it also on the first day.

Martin Kaymer chipping on route to his course recording equaling round of 63 on day one of the 2014 Players Championship. (Photo – www.pgatour.com)

Kaymer missed only two fairways in his round and he said he was putting for birdie on all but one hole.

The 2010 Whistling Straits wonder was near perfect with a back nine 29 and the first player in the 32-year history at Sawgrass to break 30 on either nine.

“I didn’t make many mistakes today, which was nice,” he said.

“I think I only missed one fairway, which was on 16.  So overall ball-striking was very good.  Fortunately I could take advantage of some putts on my back nine.

“So it was just a very, very good round of golf.”

However it seems strange the Dusseldorf-born Kaymer has not won since his victory capturing the 2012 Nedbank Challenge.

And Kaymer puts this down to ‘German perfection’ and we’re not talking BMWs or Mercedes Benz.

“It’s because of where I’m from, in Germany, we always look for perfection and this is just in my nature”, he said.

“The expectation from yourself when you’re No. 1 in the world, you look for perfection.  Everybody is expecting you to win every week, especially from my home country where golf is not as big as here in the U.S., but everybody expects you ‑‑ you are the best in the world, so why didn’t you win.

“It’s very difficult to deal with all those things.  If you win or not, people tell you their opinion, and it’s very difficult to deal with all that, and I didn’t really know how to handle it in the past.

“Now it’s a lot different, but there are a lot of things besides the golf.  The golf all of a sudden doesn’t become that interesting anymore.  You need to deal with other things in order to play good golf again, which a lot of people don’t see, and that’s okay, I’m not expecting them to see it, but just for yourself that you know where the problem is.

“The problem is not the golf, it’s the distractions off the golf course.”

And Kaymer was asked ‘what does thinking too much mean?”

“If you don’t play with your feel, with your instinct,” he remarked.

“I can say confidently that I can hit any shot.  It’s just a matter of if you can handle the pressure, if you can hit the right shot at the right time when you need to.  That’s the tough part.

“But everybody out here on the PGA TOUR can hit any shot really if they want to.  It’s just a matter of really making it happen when you have to, and that is something that you need to trust yourself, especially on a golf course like this that’s very difficult, especially the back nine like the last three, four holes, you need confidence and you need to hit ‑‑ you need to hit brave shots.

“Even if you screw up once in a while, it’s okay, everybody does that once in a while, but at least you play brave, and that’s good playing and that’s not playing like a wimp, just trying to get it over with.

“But that’s not the way I like to play, and that is what I noticed the last couple years, that’s the way I played because I was not that confident.

“I thought too much about making too many mistakes and just staying in the tournament, making the cut and trying to work yourself up.

“That’s too much crap.  No one needs that.  Just distraction.”