Plenty of US Open contenders, says Kaymer

MARTIN KAYMER may be a marquee player at Congressional Country Club this week but such is the strength in depth in modern golf, the German believes the 2011 US Open champion could be any one of 40 players.

The US PGA champion and world number three will line up on the first tee alongside Luke Donald and Lee Westwood to form a group containing the world’s first, second and third ranked players.

Yet with the last 10 majors producing 10 different winners and no dominant figure in the game since Tiger Woods went into decline, Kaymer believes this week’s US Open is really up for grabs.

“Maybe 30, 40 players,” had a genuine chance of victory, Kaymer said yesterday. “Probably 10, 15 years ago there were only 10 or 12 players, but now it’s so spread out. It’s so open. It can be a young guy. It can be (Ryo) Ishikawa, it can be Rory McIlroy, or it can be (in-form veteran) David Toms.” Kaymer, 26, tied eighth at Pebble Beach last year in his third US Open and experience has taught him that success in the championship demands patience.

“If I have an okay start to put myself in an okay position then I’m just looking for that great round on Saturday or Sunday. Sometimes that great round isn’t even necessary, just playing solid and avoiding double bogeys, triple bogeys, stupid mistakes.

“It’s nothing you can push or try to force. It’s just a waiting thing. I really enjoy that, to play difficult golf courses, where you can’t force anything. It’s not a putting competition. You need to play smart, you need to think a lot and you need to wait.”