Martin Kaymer: "I Still Haven’t Given Up On The Ryder Cup"

The two-time Major winner and former World No.1 has his eyes set on a return to Team Europe after the pain of missing the 2018 Ryder Cup

Martin Kaymer: "I Still Haven’t Given Up On The Ryder Cup"

Martin Kaymer tees it up in Austria this week hoping to spark his Ryder Cup charge into gear as he seeks to make a return to Team Europe after missing out at Le Golf National in 2018.

He described missing Paris as "a real pain" and admits he still hasn't given up on making the team this year.

The former World No.1 and two-time Major winner currently sits just inside the world's top 100, having slipped down to as low as 198th in May 2019.

Kaymer, who holed the winning putt at Medinah in 2012, is, incredibly, without a win since his stunning US Open triumph at Pinehurst nearly seven years ago.

The 36-year-old is hoping to make Padraig Harrington's side for Whistling Straits in September, which is certainly not unthinkable after a positive 2020 where he finished 2nd at Valderrama, T3rd at the UK Championship and T5th at the Italian Open.

He must also be very keen to make a return to the Wisconsin venue as it was where he won his maiden Major title at the 2010 PGA Championship after defeating Bubba Watson in a playoff to lift the Wanamaker Trophy.

"I like to come to Austria. It’s a nice country with good food, good golf courses. This week it’s a great golf course, it’s just the weather; nobody can influence it. It’ll be a good week and there will still be one winner on Sunday," Kaymer told the European Tour (opens in new tab) ahead of the Austrian Open.

“I played 18 holes yesterday, which was an interesting one because it was almost snowing. It was very difficult to see how the golf course will play once the first day comes. Maybe the weather will improve a little bit, but I think it will be a battle.

“It’s difficult to see the ball flying with the cold. But it’s a week that I always prefer, it’s a country I like to come to, it’s close to my home country – I could drive here this week. There’s a lot of comfort for me.

“The top 50 in the world is huge, you can get into all of the Majors and the WGC events and once you can do that you can play yourself into events that I haven’t played in a couple of years, and I still haven’t given up on The Ryder Cup.

“The Ryder Cup is huge and it was a real pain not to be part of the team in France.

"I know I’m quite far away right now but I feel like I’m doing a lot of things right at the moment to have a good summer.

“If I could get a couple of big results, that would make a big difference for me. Knowing that I’m very close – or I feel like I’m close – but you still need the results.

"No one cares how you feel, as long as you don’t put the right results on the scorecard and that’s something I’m longing for.”

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