PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — After tying the TPC Sawgrass record with a 9-under-par 63 in Thursday’s Players Championship opening round, Martin Kaymer revealed the secret to the turnaround in his game.
“I stopped thinking,’’ he said. “I thought a lot the last two years about swing changes, about this and this, that every shot I made I reflect on it, what I did wrong, what I did right. I just trust myself a lot more, and I stopped my thinking. The bottom line is I think less.’’
No one can argue with the results from Kaymer, whose game has slowly declined since he elevated himself to No. 1 in the world in 2011 after winning the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. Kaymer, who began his round on No. 10, carded a 29 on the front nine — something no one has ever done in Players Championship history.
Kaymer, who has played in five Players Championships and made the cut every time, began to make changes to his swing two years ago in an effort to add a draw to his usual fade swing. During the time he’s been working on it his world ranking has plummeted to 61.
He’s now gone back to the way he used to play en route to that No. 1 ranking.
“I just played,’’ Kaymer said. “I really loved, and I still love the game. It’s only distracting if you think too much and if you try to play perfect golf. But when you change … sometimes you can get caught up in the thinking process. So you need to go back where you came from, and that’s just feel.’’
Kaymer theorized falling into that pursuit of perfection comes from where he comes from.
“It’s because of where I’m from: In Germany, we always look for perfection,’’ he said. “This is just in my nature, I think. The expectation from yourself when you’re No. 1 in the world, you look for perfection. Everybody is expecting you to win every week, especially from my home country. Everybody expects you … you are the best in the world, so why didn’t you win?
“It’s very difficult to deal with all those things.’’
The comeback of the day went to Geoff Ogilvy, who was 4-over through his first eight holes and rallied to finish with a 3-under-par 69. Ogilvy, who shot 30 on the back nine, birdied seven of his final 10 holes.
The hole of the day goes to Justin Leonard, who holed out from a 147 yards for eagle on No. 1, his first hole of the day. Leonard’s approach shot hit the cup so hard on the way it damaged the edge of the hole and a maintenance crew had to be called in to repair it.
The most surprising high score of the day was Adam Scott, who shot 77. With soft greens and little wind, the course yielded 67 sub-par rounds Thursday.