It’s understandable that Martin Kaymer, who has won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship a record three times, does not like the changes made to the golf course.
After three wins and a runner-up finish in a period of four years between 2008 and 2011, during which he was 80-under par for his 16 rounds, Kaymer has a missed cut, a tied-sixth and a tied-31st place to show in his last three visits to the tournament.
Heralded as the ‘King of Abu Dhabi’ for his jaw-dropping performances, Kaymer is trying hard to lower his expectations as he starts what could be one of his most significant career years.
To be fair to Kaymer, he did struggle with his form after trying to change his swing following the third Falcon Trophy, but the German thinks he has lost his edge because of the alterations made to the golf course.
“It’s always a good start to the season. I’ve had success here. But the golf course has changed quite a lot, unfortunately. I really, really liked it the way it was,” Kaymer said. “For me, it has become a little bit more complicated. They have changed a few greens, a few tee boxes. So, it’s not a given that I will win this.
“I think the key for me was always that I putted really, really well on those greens. It was, for me, not very difficult to read the lines.
“Sometimes you have golf courses where the greens really suit your eye and you don’t need to think much, you don’t doubt yourself if you pick the right line. That was, I think, the main reason why I played so well.
“There have been a lot of new tee boxes the last two or three years, which didn’t make the holes particularly better. For example, the eighth is a great hole, the par-5 from the forward tee. Now, from the back tee, it has become a little bit of a boring, straightforward par-5.
“So, you just have to see it as a new golf course and approach it that way. I still enjoy the golf course a lot, but that doesn’t mean that I will have success every single year.”
Kaymer seemed to have turned around his form remarkably in the early part of last year when he won the Players Championship and the US Open. But that led him to playing too many tournaments and he found himself completely shorn of energy by the end of September.
So, for someone who has made it a point to hit balls even on Christmas Day at his Arizona base, Kaymer did something completely different in December.
He skipped the trip to Whisper Rock, and instead travelled to Italy and learnt skiing in an effort to cut himself off completely from golf.
“My preparation has been a little different,” he added. “Since 2005, I’ve always been in America for Christmas time. This time, I’ve been home in Germany and I haven’t played golf much.
“I came to Dubai the week before this event here, practiced a little bit. It’s a different preparation, which doesn’t mean it’s worse or better.
“If you compare yourself to the way I played here when I won, you automatically put some pressure on yourself.
“It’s very difficult to follow up that success. So, I just approach it as a regular event… a regular event that I love to play.”
Kaymer plays today alongside defending champion Pablo Larrazabal and world No6 Justin Rose at 11:55 from the first tee.
