Cool Martin Kaymer primed to make mark at Ryder Cup

Europe will parade two of this season's four major winners when they try to win back the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in October.

• Martin Kaymer

Rory McIlroy is naturally disappointed that one of them is not him after what happened at The Open last month and then the USPGA Championship this weekend.

However, 25-year-old German Martin Kaymer is undoubtedly thrilled that he ended the major season on such a high to join US Open champion Graeme McDowell in Colin Montgomerie's side.

Known as the "Herr Apparent" to double Masters winner Bernhard Langer from the moment he burst on the scene, Kaymer took advantage of the misfortune which befell American Dustin Johnson by beating Bubba Watson in a three-hole play-off at Whistling Straits.

While 21-year-old McIlroy missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the last and had to settle for another third place finish, his third in the last five majors, Kaymer's closing 12-footer for par kept him alive.

Watson birdied the first extra hole, but this was not sudden death and Kaymer levelled from 15 feet at the next and won with a bogey five after Watson found water and then saw his chip for a five hit the flag but stay out.

Following the runaway win by South African Louis Oosthuizen at St Andrews, a thrilling battle like this was just what golf needed. Not that Kaymer, the sixth first-time winner in the last seven majors, cared how he won.

The sense of achievement was all the greater because of what happened to him in The Open, where he bogeyed the last three holes when pars would have given him a share of second spot with Lee Westwood.

"That for me was very tough," he said. "That was shocking for me because I never really screwed up a tournament before. I thought about it for a long time, what the reason was, and that helped me a lot.

"You don't really have to be a genius to know that there are more important things in life than golf. For everybody, their family should always be the most important."

Two years ago, only 23 at the time, Kaymer won an emotional BMW International Open in Munich while his mother was battling cancer. She died just two weeks later.

"I know there will be someone special looking down on me this week," he said when he returned to action at The Open a fortnight later. Kaymer just missed out on qualifying for the Ryder Cup that summer, but captain Nick Faldo invited him, Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty to Valhalla to get a taste of the match.

The youngest of the trio was the only one to take up the chance and lapped it up. Now he will be playing in the event.

His win on Sunday took him to a career-high fifth in the world and he also takes over from McDowell as Europe's leading money-winner this season.

McIlroy is seventh in the world and has time on his side, of course.

But there will not be another chance to win his first major a day younger than Tiger Woods was when he won his first.

"I just needed to find one more shot in any of the four days, it's disappointing," said the Northern Irishman. "It's the first time I've been in contention in the last round of a major, going out in the second-last group. I was feeling it on the first tee and it was a new experience. It will stand me in good stead.

"I stayed very patient and didn't let anything get to me or my head drop once, which was one of the main objectives. It was a tough day and I felt I handled myself well. I feel in myself I am ready to win one."