Martin Kaymer somehow recovered from a final round case of the nerves to beat Anders Hansen in the first hole of a playoff to win the BMW International Open in Munich and his second victory on the European Tour this year.

Taking a 6 shot lead into the last day and having played beautifully all week, everybody watching expected the young German to canter to an easy victory. With 3 rounds in the sixties (68, 63, 67), Kaymer had made the course at München Eichenried look like a pitch and putt. While others strugled to come to terms with the course, Kaymer’s length and excellent course management had even Berhard Langer voicing his admiration.

"I told him ‘you’re very aggressive, but you’re smart at the same time like Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson’. He’s got an old head on young shoulders," said Langer  "going by the last two days I don’t think there any limits for him if he keeps that up."

On the Sunday things changed as hard charging from Anders Hansen, Paul Casey and John Bickerton put the pressure on Kaymer who bogeyed the 1st and the 7th on the front nine where the previous 3 visits had yielded 8 birdies and nothing higher than a par. Kaymer then found himself in even more trouble on the par 5 11th when he found the water twice to card a triple bogey. Hansen at this time had been rattling off birdies and took the lead but a birdie at 13 and a tap in birdie at 18 when his eagle putt was agonizingly close was enough to force the play-off

After the excitement of the closing 9, the play-off proved to be a bit of an anti-climax as Hansen found the bunkers twice as Kaymer notched up his 20th birdie of the week for the win.