Tour News

Kaymer romps to 2014 U.S. Open victory

Published

10 years ago

Jun 15, 2014

Tim Gavrich

“Turn out the lights; the party’s over.”

– Johnny Miller, 6:37 p.m.

Miller made that remark after Martin Kaymer holed a birdie putt on the short par-4 13^th on Sunday. In the end, it turned out that the party was over on Thursday evening, when Kaymer signed for the first of two consecutive five-under par rounds of 65 at Pinehurst No. 2. His closing rounds of 72 and 69 were good for a 9-under par score of 271 and an 8-stroke victory over Rickie Fowler and Erik Compton.

The German turned in an absolutely masterful performance, as domineering as Rory McIlroy’s U.S. Open and PGA Championship triumphs in 2011 and 2012. In an event crafted to inflict maximum suffering on the scorecards of the best golfers in the world, Kaymer never so much as threatened the dreaded “other” that wreaks havoc on so many each year. He made only nine bogeys for the week against 16 birdies and an eagle, making quality swing after quality swing, particularly with his driver and long irons.

Kaymer added a Father’s Day victory to his triumph at The Players Championship on Mother’s Day a month ago. Kaymer’s mother, Rina, passed away in 2008 but his father Horst was said to be watching at home.

After a routine par on the easy first hole Sunday, Kaymer drained a 9-foot par putt on the difficult par-4 second, showing no signs of caving to major championship pressure. There were other slight struggles, but he nonetheless followed one of the U.S. Open’s main principles: avoid big numbers. He hit two consecutive poor shots around the green at No. 10, a par-5, but managed to save bogey. He also balanced out his miscues with just enough quality shots—birdies at Nos. 3, 5 and 9, and an exclamation point at No. 13—to keep the field at bay.

On a course whose green complexes encourage a variety of shots, Kaymer wielded his putter almost exclusively, even at times when a chip or pitch shot seemed the most sensible option. The simple approach to short game shots served Kaymer well all week, as he hit a number of excellent long putts, saving pars where many competitors struggled to bogeys and worse.

Rickie Fowler found himself in the final group with Kaymer Sunday, but failed to mount a charge. He hit a suspect approach short of the first green but canned a 12-foot par putt to establish some momentum. But a comedy of errors led to a double-bogey at the par-4 fourth, after which Fowler was a decided backup voice to Kaymer’s concertmaster status.

American fans and golf media types alike were deeply interested on seeing how Erik Compton, a two-time heart transplant recipient, would play in his first-ever major championship Sunday (in his second major championship start). Compton got away with a few loose swings while parring the first three holes, but a birdie on the par-5 fifth brought him within five shots of Kaymer. But bogeys at Nos. 7 and 9 more than offset the birdies he did make. But his final-round score of 72 earned him a tie for second place with Fowler and an invite to the 2015 Masters.

“It was great to prove to the world that I’m not just a guy with two heart transplants,” Compton said after the round.

Though Sunday brought considerably less drama than most U.S. Opens, there is little denying that the restored Pinehurst No. 2 did its job very well, ultimately identifying the best player in the field. Only three players broke par for the week.

The USGA set up Pinehurst for drama on Sunday, with two drivable par fours and a number of accessible hole locations. For an event where the final round is so often a brutal struggle for survival, perhaps 2014 will be seen as the beginning of a new philosophy from the USGA on championship course setup. There were no final-round scores of 80 or higher, a testament to the quality and consistency of the challenge on offer from the USGA.

It was yet another disappointing U.S. Open week for Phil Mickelson, who came into the week with as much pressure to win as any player has faced. He shot a final-round 72 to finish tied for 28^th at 7-over. His pursuit of a career Grand Slam will have to wait until 2015, when the U.S. Open visits Chambers Bay in Washington.

Another party ended on Sunday. The golf broadcast team at NBC deserves considerable commendation for 20 years of excellent coverage of the U.S. Open. Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller signed off for the last time for at least a dozen years, because last August the USGA signed a deal with Fox Sports to carry all USGA event television coverage starting in 2015.

Johnny Miller has been at times a polarizing media figure among golf fans because of his tendency toward frank commentary, which has to my mind always felt appropriate in such a grueling tournament. I will miss him very much. When Joe Buck and Greg Norman sign on for the first time next June, the golf world will be able to decide whether it is an improvement.

But 2014 belongs to Martin Kaymer, whose 72-hole performance will be seen as one of the strongest in a long, long time.

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Kaymer carries 5-shot lead into Sunday

Tim Gavrich

Tim grew up outside of Hartford, Conn., playing most of his formative golf at Hop Meadow Country Club in the town of Simsbury. He played golf for four years at Washington & Lee University (Division-III) and now lives in Pawleys Island, S.C., and works in nearby Myrtle Beach in advertising. He's not too bad on Bermuda greens, for a Yankee. A lifelong golf addict, he cares about all facets of the game of golf, from equipment to course architecture to PGA Tour news to his own streaky short game.

13 Comments

scott

Jun 17, 2014 at 8:56 am

total class act.

Reply Report comment
Rich

Jun 16, 2014 at 9:38 am

What a dominant display. Kaymer is a machine. Just goes to show you don’t need a $400 Scotty Cameron to putt well. Off the rack base model ping anser does the job just as well thanks. Love it!

Reply Report comment
- bradford
  
  Jun 16, 2014 at 3:17 pm
  
  doesn’t matter what you putt with as long as you love it…
  
  Reply Report comment
bradford

Jun 16, 2014 at 7:35 am

Won’t miss Miller in the least…and Dan will surely get picked up by any smart new golf broadcast.

Reply Report comment
barry

Jun 16, 2014 at 7:11 am

I want to see the fantasy match- Tiger Woods 2000 pebble beach vs martin kaymer 2014 pinehurst no. 2-Kaymer would win on the 4th extra hole sudden death after the full 18 hole play-off!!!!

Reply Report comment
B

Jun 16, 2014 at 2:57 am

A master class in ball striking and putting from Martin. Congrats!

Reply Report comment
MHendon

Jun 16, 2014 at 1:17 am

I thought for sure after the players championship win he’d get a major bag sponsor. Certainly he’ll get one now.

Reply Report comment
- Jim
  
  Jun 16, 2014 at 9:58 am
  
  Probably holding off for the right deal, as he will have it for a few years probably.
  
  Reply Report comment
Momo

Jun 16, 2014 at 12:10 am

This guy can go toe to toe with anyone.

Reply Report comment
Eldrick Woods, Florida

Jun 15, 2014 at 10:20 pm

hes on fire

Reply Report comment
Norm Platt

Jun 15, 2014 at 8:58 pm

A notable parting shot from Johnny Miller: all the greens should be redone at Pinehurst number two. He was referring to how a good shot, depending on the bounce could end of anywhere . Plus he was lamenting how the women might be challenged next week. I like the changes to the waste areas but the greens were meant to have some grass because back when this course was designed they were meant for green speeds in the 7-8 range at the most. Not 12 or 13 you saw on tv. I didn’t mind Miller the least. He will be missed.

Reply Report comment
- B
  
  Jun 16, 2014 at 2:59 am
  
  They’ll just water it a bit more. And the course is obviously going to play shorter for the women. The ladies will be fine. They play the British one in same, if not drier, conditions, so they’ll be fine.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Oldplayer
  
  Jun 18, 2014 at 5:51 pm
  
  Agree. Miller’s commentary is always frank and to the point. He also has the golfing pedigree to give authority to his opinions. I hope he gets another gig. His insight and approach to the game should be given air time; not to mention his wit.
  I still remember the comment when Phil made double on the last when he hit driver and allowed Ogilvy to win his open. Miller said about hitting the driver “what was he doing??? He doesn’t have to ride down the last on a white charger” Classic and brutal in it’s honesty.
  
  Reply Report comment

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Equipment

Spotted: Putter roundup from the 2024 3M Open

Published

1 day ago

Jul 25, 2024

Brian Knudson

Every week we spot some really cool and custom putters out on the putting green and in tour players’ bags. This week is no slouch with some really interesting and beautiful putters being tested. Let’s take a look at some of the standouts we found.

Tyler Duncan: Scotty Cameron Phantom T-11.5

The Phantom 11 is a pretty wild putter by Scotty’s standards with a multi-material design that boosts MOI for more forgiveness. Duncan’s T-11.5. takes the stock model and moves the shaft to the center of the putter head. We don’t mean a center shafted version, but the shaft is installed in the center, behind the face as well. We don’t have any official details on this T-11.5 but it looks like that setup should create a putter where the face points towards the hole or target, similar to a L.A.B. putter.

Zac Blair: Scotty Cameron 009.M Cameron & Co. “Longneck”

Blair might be in possession of the largest Scotty collection on tour! It seems like every week he has something new, and flat-out gorgeous, that he is trying out. I have seen a lot of 009.M putters over the years, but never one with a long plumbers neck on it. This 009 is a Masterful that utilizes additional CNC machine work to reduce the amount of hand polishing needed to complete the putter. The long, or tall, neck on the putter usually is used to reduce the amount of toe hang and make the putter more face balanced. The face contains a very shallow milling while the sole features a tour truck, tour only, diamonds, and the rare Circle L stamp. The Circle L was made for Scotty’s close friends who lost matches or games and was meant to poke a little fun at their misfortune.

Paul Barjon: PXG Prototype

There are a lot of putters out there that become so widely used and popular that other manufacturers will borrow some of the design cues. The Spider is one of those putters and it looks like PXG has made a prototype putter for Barjon that has some similar features. This proto has a tapered mallet shape with twin wings that come out from either side of the rear. Twin movable weights sit in each wing on the sole and the sole features a plate that is bolted in place at the corners. The top contains a single siteline and the face uses PXG’s advanced pyramid face structure.

Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Broomstick #7

More and more long, counterbalanced, and alternative putters seem to be showing up recently. The long, or broomstick, putter is making a comeback and more than a few players have joined Adam Scott in using that style. Odyssey has thrown its hat in the broomstick arena with a new Ai-One Cruiser model. The head shape is the very familiar #7 model, but with the shaft going into the center of the club head. An Ai-One face is there to help keep ball speed consistent on off-center hits and three white lines are on top for framing ball and aligning the putter.

TaylorMade Spider Tour S Broomstick

Another option in the long putter is TaylorMade’s Spider Tour S broomstick that we saw around the putting green. The head looks to be a little larger than the standard Tour S and that makes sense with the broomstick-style putters demanding heads near or over 400g. A TPU Pure Roll insert is installed in the face and the shaft is a more traditional double-bend design, just much longer! There isn’t the True Path alignment on top, just a full darker grey finish with a single siteline. Two moveable weights are out in the wings of the putter to dial in the specific weight a player might want.

Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 3M Open

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2024 3M Open

Published

3 days ago

Jul 23, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site this week at TPC Twin Cities for the 2024 3M Open for the penultimate event of the PGA Tour’s regular season.

The photos are flying in from Blaine, Minnesota. We’ve already assembled general galleries and a fresh Tony Finau WITB.

Check back throughout the week for more photos!

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Chris Gotterup’s TM P-7CB irons – 2024 3M Open

See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.

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Equipment

Collin Morikawa’s pre-Open equipment adjustments

Published

1 week ago

Jul 18, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

Three years later, Morikawa has once again changed his irons to deal with the unique Scottish turf.

Morikawa has been using TaylorMade P730 blade short irons (7-PW), P7MC mid irons (5-6) and a TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron with a cavity-back construction this year.

However, he switched into a new set of TaylorMade P7CB irons (5-PW) before finishing T4 at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, to go along with his familiar “Proto” 4-iron. TaylorMade’s P7CB irons are the finalized versions of the “Proto” 4-iron that Morikawa has been using, except they remain unreleased to retail.

According to TaylorMade, Morikawa switched into a full set of the new P7CB irons to aid with turf interaction, just like he did prior to his 2021 Open victory.

Morikawa is honing in on his winning formula overseas.

Morikawa also has switched from his usual TaylorMade Qi10 5-wood to a lower-launching TaylorMade P790 3-iron equipped with a Project X HZRDUS 105 Hybrid shaft. The loft of the club has been bent down to 19 degrees.

TaylorMade says that Morikawa switched into the new driving iron In order to “have an option to hit something lower that will roll out in the fairways.”

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.

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