Kaymer leads Italian Open field

Martin Kaymer leads the Italian Open field this week as he bids for a strong finish to the European Tour season

As Martin Kaymer searches for a strong finish to the 2015 season, the German golfer brings the highest World Ranking to this week’s Italian Open field.

Opportunity awaits for world number 22 Kaymer, who arrived at Golf Club Milano on Tuesday placed 17^th in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai.

Double major winner Kaymer still has a lot to play for in 2015, despite the disappointment of falling out of the FedEx Cup play-off race on the PGA Tour in the United States after the Wyndham Championship last month.

Kaymer’s late-season campaign in Europe began at the KLM Open in the Netherlands last week. Rounds of 67-67-68 left him well placed after three rounds, but then a final round of 74, four over par, saw the 2010 PGA Championship winner and 2014 U.S. Open champion slip to a tie for 57^th.

“Over the first three rounds I left two or three shots out there and then on the final day it was a few more,” Kaymer, 30, tells Golf Monthly in an exclusive interview. “I put myself in some great positions but then my wedge game really let me down. I made a couple bogeys from 90 yards and that was very poor.

“I was surprised. I wanted to have a quick start on the final round because I was a few shots behind. At least I got a good impression of what I need to work on for the final quarter of the season.”

Kaymer will be looking for those sharper scoring shots in at least six European Tour events as the season builds up to November’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“I am looking forward to the next few weeks,” he says. “I am going to have some good opportunities to pick up a win. After playing in Italy I will go to the Dunhill Championship, then the Portugal Masters and I am not sure about the Turkish Airlines Open. I have not decided on that yet, but I am definitely going to play in the HSBC Champions, the BMW Masters and then the World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“I have a few tournaments left which are all counting towards the Race to Dubai, so it would be nice to give myself a chance to finish really high. I don’t have to worry about the PGA Tour until next year now, and it is quite relaxing not having to focus on two tours at once.”

Kaymer tees off in the first round of the Italian Open tomorrow at 13:30, playing with local favourite Matteo Manassero and Austria’s Bernd Weisberger.

Martin Kaymer is a Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador and Mercedes-Benz is Official Partner of the Italian Open 2015