A Month of Meltdowns

To the South African's great credit he bounced back brilliantly the following week in Abu Dhabi, but the spotlight there was on the three-time champion Martin Kaymer, who quickly forgot about his Christmas break learning how to snowplough and roared into the lead with an opening 64. This was Kaymer's track. He is a proven front runner. He's the reigning Players and US Open Champion, having won the latter by eight shots, wire to wire. Despite the presence of Rory McIlroy and many other luminaries, the German continued to dominate, taking a six-shot lead into the final round. Game over. Job done. The bookies had him as the ludicrously overwhelming favourite. After three birdies in the first four holes he was 24-under-par (equalling his own championship record) and leading by 10 shots. It was the dream start and now only one man could beat him: himself.

The first sign of trouble came at the difficult par-4 sixth, where having found rough off the tee and laid up, he made the cardinal error of going long to a back flag. He very nearly chipped in, but it was a shot gone. There's a longish walk across a low bridge to the seventh tee. There on a plinth was the Falcon Trophy for a "sexy" camera shot.

All he had to do was stay in the present, keep playing the way he was, not make any silly tactical errors and that trophy was his for a fourth time. Did that trophy sighting cause him to get ahead of himself? We'll probably never know, but from thereon in things started to change. At the ninth, he had to take a penalty drop out of rocks in the desert and made a weak double bogey. No need to panic just yet, there was still credit in the bank, but McIlroy and little-known Frenchman Gary Stal were both on birdie runs. Meanwhile the birdies had dried up for Kaymer as he came to the short par-4 13th. Kaymer tried to cut the corner of the dogleg with a driver and found a bush in the desert. His penalty drop in the soft sand sunk down. He couldn't reach the green. Unbelievably he then completely chunked a chip, practically curling the turf over the ball. Uh oh. Another chip and two putts for a triple bogey and he's back at seventeen under and no longer leading.

On the 17th he was all ready to putt when he looked up at Bernd Wiesberger (who's ball was a bit closer to the hole), re-marked his ball, and stepped away as if he wasn't even sure it was his turn to putt. He then went through the set-up process again, but it was obvious his head was totally scrambled and his race run.

Walking to the 18th, his caddie Craig Connolly rather forlornly said: "I hadn't seen this coming!" Who had? It was one of the most improbable, dramatic and inexplicable meltdown's in any sport that I have ever witnessed.

Martin Kaymer is a delightful man, and we must hope that no lasting damage is done. The brain is the most powerful weapon in a sportsman's armoury. Used well it can perform miracles, but when the wires get crossed, call for the fire brigade. Ask Mark James about that.