Kaymer waiting to pounce on Tigers throne

MARTIN KAYMER isn’t allowing himself to become caught up in the hype surrounding his potential overthrow of Tiger Woods as the world’s number one golfer.

The German will achieve the title with a first or second place finish at the Andalucia Masters at Valderrama this week.

But yesterday he insisted such ambitions are not causing him sleepless nights.

“For me there is no pressure,” he stressed. “My goal at the beginning of the season was to win the Race to Dubai and not to be the number one in the world. That is something that only came up recently and I don’t see any reason why I should change my goals. If I focus on the Race to Dubai and play good golf, then the number one in the world will take care of itself. But that is not my main goal this week.”

Kaymer is an unbackable favourite in The Race to Dubai as he stands 995,580 points clear of nearest challenger, Graeme McDowell, with third placed Lee Westwood sidelined with a calf injury.

McDowell promised to do everything possible to hunt Kaymer down but understands he faces a daunting task.

McDowell said: “If he plays well it’s probably mathematically not possible (to overtake him). I’m playing with him this week so I’ve got to beat him. I can’t do anything about what he does, I just have to do my own thing.

“These next three weeks are huge for me. I’ve got to play well at least two of those weeks and keep my fingers crossed that he doesn’t continue to play as well as he has.

“I’ve had a dream season but I want to finish strongly. It would be another major, major goal to win an order of merit. I’m in a big hole right now, a long way behind Martin, but it’s not out of the question.

“We’ve got a lot of money to play for and I feel fresh. Mentally and physically, I’m up for it.”

Kaymer is aware that a drop in form means that McDowell is perfectly placed to overtake him.

“I will be trying to play my best golf until we get to Dubai. I don’t wish Graeme bad, I wish that he does well and that hopefully in the end I do a little better. But it should be fun for everybody, for the spectators, for the European Tour and for us players. It would be nice if all the pressure was on the last putt at the last hole.”

As of now, that hardly seems likely. In any event, McDowell may have other accolades on the horizon with him amongst the contenders for the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

“That would be a very special honour, it would be amazing”, he agreed. “Obviously winning the order of merit might make me a shoo-in. I think AP McCoy is slight favourite ahead of me right now. When you look at the list of previous winners on that trophy … to even contemplate being added to that list kind of puts it into perspective for me. I look at it and I’m not quite sure if I belong there,” he added.

Meanwhile, the University of Ulster is to confer an honorary doctorate on the Northern Ireland star.

The Portrush golfer who became the first Northern Ireland professional to capture a Major title since Fred Daly’s British Open success at Hoylake in 1947 will receive a Doctor of Science (DSc) degree at a ceremony in the New Year.

McDowell and Kaymer both have good reason to fancy their chances this week. The former points to the albatross 2 he shot here at the 17th in the 2008 Volvo Masters (he holed out a seven iron of 197 yards) when he finished 3rd while Kaymer declared: “I entered for this tournament when I heard it was being played at Valderrama. It is my favourite course in the world.”

They tee off together with local hero Alvaro Quiros at 9.10am today and at noon tomorrow.