Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell, currently locked in an exciting encounter for The European Tour Race to Dubai Number One honours, continue their season-long confrontation in the 28th PGA Grand Slam of Golf starting at Port Royal, Bermuda, tomorrow (Tuesday).
Kaymer and McDowell are joined by Ernie Els, who came in for Masters Tournament winner Phil Mickelson, although the unique prospect of all four players in the 36-hole contest being European Tour Members disappeared when Louis Oosthuizen, the Open Champion, was compelled to withdraw because of damaged ankle ligaments. He is replaced by American David Toms.
Germany’s Kaymer holds the lead in The 2010 Race to Dubai with €3,134, 446 ahead of Northern Ireland’s McDowell (€2,138,866). Both are seeking to become only the second European winner of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf – Ian Woosnam was successful in 1991 – before resuming their challenge for The Race to Dubai which concludes with the season-ending Dubai World Championship presented by DP World at Jumeirah Golf Estates on November 25-28.
Els, however, is determined to follow his triumph in this contest in 1997 with another win and so deny either Kaymer or McDowell, both members of Europe’s successful Ryder Cup team earlier this month, the chance of continuing their record breaking seasons.
He said: “The Grand Slam will get exactly what I give to any other tournament – my full time and effort. It’s my first visit to Bermuda and the challenge of playing somewhere new is always a motivating factor.
“The older I have got, the more demanding I get of myself. Winning is my greatest motivation and I am just as keen nowadays as when I first started out on the professional path 20 years ago.”
McDowell, who in June became the first European winner of the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970, and Kaymer, who entered the history books when in August he became the first continental European to win the US PGA Championship, both admit to being fans of Els, who won the US Open titles 1994 and 1997 and became a three-time Major Champion by capturing the Open Championship in 2002.
“Ernie’s US Open win at Oakmont in 1994 is probably the one I remember best - I was 14 and starting to realise that maybe this is what I wanted, to be a competitive golfer,” said McDowell.
“Now I really have to manage the expectation levels myself; make sure I continue to realise it’s a tough game. I have to keep working hard to be the best player I can be.”
Kaymer tees-up with the best form credentials after following his US PGA Championship win with victories in the KLM Open and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship to complete a remarkable hat-trick of wins on The 2010 European Tour International Schedule.
He said: “Bernhard Langer inspired me when I was a kid. He was always one of my heroes and when you think of what he has achieved in his career then I think I have a long way to go. But my role model was and still is Ernie Els.”
The Port Royal Golf Course, originally designed by the late Robert Trent Jones Snr, has undergone a near £10 million renovation programme with the layout lengthened to almost 6,900 yards. The winner will collect US$ 600,000 from the US$ 1.35 prize fund.
