Like many of his countrymen, Martin Kaymer has been overcome by a chest-thumping sense of Bavarian patriotism and pride. For good reason, too.
The same day a parade was held in Berlin for the reigning World Cup championship team, the Dusseldorf native tried to explain why and how his homeland has become the centre of the sporting universe.
Germania has taken root.
“If you build a house in Germany, it lasts 1,800 years,” Kaymer said. “It’s not going to fly away when there’s a storm.
“You see the cars that we build. I’m making an advertisement for my country, but it’s just the quality of work. It’s permanent. It lasts.”
More than ever, Kaymer, 29, is built for the longer haul.
After winning his first major and climbing to world No 1 four years ago, he retooled his swing to make himself a more complete player. Despite many speed bumps along the way, he torched the field at the US Open last month.
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After falling out of the world top 60, Kaymer’s US Open championship followed the Players Championship in May, making him the front-runner for the PGA Tour’s top-player honours this season.
Despite the protracted victory drought that stretched to two years on the major tours, Kaymer remained committed. Thus, there were a few parallels to his country’s 1-0 victory in the World Cup finale, a game he watched on television in Liverpool last Sunday night.
“It was a very patient success,” Kaymer said. “They didn’t try to force anything, because they knew they were good enough. It was just about delivering what they can do.
“Every team has a bad day here and there. Germany didn’t play great against America, but they got away with it.
“That’s the same at a golf tournament. You have a day when you don’t play super good, but you hang in there and you play something around par that keeps you in the tournament.”
After Kaymer won the US Open, Germany star Thomas Muller made a point of referencing the achievement after the national team’s opening win in Brazil a day later.
“It was very nice to see that we are all trying to work it out that golf becomes more important and bigger in Germany,” Kaymer said. “So it’s a good relationship because it’s very natural. It’s not fake. It’s not forced.
“The interest from the players, or from the national team, there’s enough interest in golf. And obviously for me, as a German and playing football for many years, there’s interest on that side. So it’s quite nice to work together.”
Somehow, despite winning in wire-to-wire fashion against the two deepest fields of 2014, Kaymer remains a bit under the radar this week at Royal Liverpool. Staying grounded is not a problem, however. In fact, it has become a national asset, he said.
That sense of steely reserve helps explains how he has won six of the seven times in which he has held the 54-hole lead on the US and European circuits.
“I like that, because at the end of the day, it’s not about talking and always hoping and believing, it’s about the delivering,” Kaymer said. “So, and I think that is what a lot of Germans do, as well. You can rely on us.”
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