Martin Kaymer heads to the Andalucia Valderrama Masters this week aiming to take Tiger Woods’ World Number One crown and continue his astounding 2010 season.
The 25 year old – who currently leads The Race to Dubai by almost €1million – can overtake the American with a win or tie for second place with one other player in the €3million event. But Kaymer will meet stiff resistance from a strong field in his bid to become only the second German, following Bernhard Langer, to top the Official World Golf Ranking.
Another of Europe’s Ryder Cup heroes and US Open Champion, Graeme McDowell, is the man closest to Kaymer in The Race to Dubai and the Northern Irishman still harbours hopes of catching the leader before season ends.
McDowell has made the same journey to Valderrama as Kaymer, with both men having competed in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf last week, where they finished in a tie for third place behind winner Ernie Els and second placed David Toms.
Kaymer and McDowell are joined at the iconic Club de Golf Valderrama by a host of golf’s hottest properties including their Ryder Cup team-mates Ross Fisher, Peter Hanson, Miguel Angel Jiménez and the Molinari brothers Edoardo and Francesco, while Sergio Garcia and José Maria Olazábal also continue their respective comebacks on The European Tour.
All eyes, however, will undoubtedly focus on Kaymer, who is looking to become the first player to knock Woods off the top of the Official World Golf Ranking since Vijay Singh in June 2005.
While the strength of Woods’ Number One position has undoubtedly suffered from the six-month break from the sport he has dominated for over a decade, Kaymer’s current claim to be known as the best player in the world is impossible to argue with.
The German has been in peerless form since his fearless first Major win at the US PGA Championship in August and since then he has won both European Tour Stroke Play events he has played in – the KLM Open and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Club de Golf Valderrama is synonymous with The European Tour, having hosted 16 editions of the season-ending Volvo Masters between 1988 and 2009 as well as staging The 1997 Ryder Cup, when Seve Ballesteros captained Europe to victory over the United States.
The magnificent course has seen some of The European Tour’s greatest moments and is ready to play centre stage once again.
