Sunday 18 January 2015 17:02, UK
Martin Kaymer admitted he was “surprised and shocked” after throwing away a commanding 10-shot lead and handing victory to Gary Stal at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
The German appeared likely to cruise to his fourth win in the tournament after extending his overnight six-shot lead to 10 with birdies at three of the first four holes on the final day.
But after a bogey at the sixth – his first blemish for 47 holes – Kaymer was forced to take a penalty drop at the ninth after a wild drive and ran up a double-bogey six.
And as Stal and Rory McIlroy put pressure on the leader with a barrage of birdies mid-round, Kaymer triple-bogeyed the 13th after another errant tee-shot into the scrub.
The reigning US Open champion was unable to recover as he stuttered to a three-over 75, the joint-worst score of the day, while Stal’s faultless 65 earned him a one-shot win over McIlroy with Kaymer finishing two behind.
"I'm surprised and a little shocked. I don't really know how to put it into words," he said. "It was very, very surprising today. I started off well but then I hit a couple of bad tee shots and it cost me a double-bogey and a triple-bogey.
“I didn’t get lucky with those tee shots at nine and 13 and I had to take a drop. But when you have to drop in the sand you get a pretty bad lie. I do miss fairways, but usually you get away with it okay, you don't make double or triple bogey. But that is what happened today.
Missed putts
"Another thing was I didn't make many putts. I missed a lot of putts and therefore it was very difficult for me to make birdies."
It was very, very surprising. I started off well but then a couple of bad tee shots cost me a double-bogey and a triple-bogey.
Kaymer will now take time to reflect on his collapse before returning to action in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the end of the month, and he is looking to take the positives from his overall performance.
"At the end of the day I was playing playing good golf all week long," he told Sky Sports 4. "Today I didn't hit many fairways and that was the problem and I didn't make many putts either.
"On a golf course like this you can't really afford that, but on the other hand I was playing really good golf and that is what you can build on and what is most important for me.
"There are many, many tournaments coming up until the Masters and they will be great preparation.
“I’ll be playing in Dubai the week after next – it’s the same type of course and the same climate, so hopefully I can go well again.”
