US Open Champion Martin Kaymer is hoping to add further honours to his increasingly impressive CV this week as he returns to his favourite course on The European Tour for the Alstom Open de France.
The German, who picked up his second Major Championship at Pinehurst last month and also captured The Players Championship at Sawgrass earlier in the year, won at Le Golf National in 2009 and has had four top-tens in his seven appearances at the Versailles venue.
Now the 29 year old is hoping to collect a 12th European Tour title in his last appearance before The Open Championship at Hoylake.
“I guess it's definitely my favourite golf course that we play on The European Tour,” said Kaymer, whose eight shot wire-to-wire win made him the first Continental European to capture the US Open.
“It's very challenging, it's very exciting. There's always some drama involved the last three, four holes. I think it's a great preparation for The British Open.
“Obviously the success that I had five years ago when I won in the play-off against [Lee] Westwood, I had a couple other top-ten finishes here before.
“It's only five hours drive from Germany, from Düsseldorf. For me it's a very, very convenient tournament; especially after playing Germany, coming here it's a lot more quiet and I can really relax and I can sleep well and I can reflect on the last two weeks.”
The only distraction for Kaymer this week comes on Friday night, when the German national football team face France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.
“When I saw the tee times, 1.20 tomorrow and then early on Friday, I was very glad,” he added. “I hope to think that they did it on purpose to watch the game. It will be a very tough game.
“Obviously we have played against France a lot of times, but in those extreme situations, it's always tough to say.
“We struggled a little bit against Algeria the other day, but then patience paid off in the end. So it will be a good game. I will wear my shirt somewhere so hopefully I won't get attacked!”
