PGA Championship star not happy with Champions Dinner comment | Golf | Sport

Martin Kaymer has revealed that a brutal comment at the Champions Dinner has pushed him to prove doubters wrong at Arominik. The 41-year-old carded three-under-par in the opening round of the PGA Championship on Thursday.

He is one of seven players sharing the lead after the first day, joining Scottie Scheffler, Alex Smalley, Ryo Hisatsune, Min Woo Lee, Stephan Jager and Aldrich Potgieter at the top of the leaderboard. Kaymer is a two-time major winner and will have his eyes set on capturing the PGA Championship for a second time. Despite his past accomplishments, it seems the LIV Golf star was overlooked by at least one attendee at the recent Champions Dinner, who asked if he was still competing. Kaymer has admitted that the unintentional dig helped him during his opening round.

“I’ll tell you a funny story,’’ Kaymer said. “On Tuesday evening we had the champion’s dinner, and there was a gentleman sitting next to me from the PGA of America and he asked me if I still play.

“And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, are you playing this week?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I’m not flying from Europe to here to have a New York strip with you guys. Of course I’m playing.’

“And that really motivated me. So it was a good start to the week. Again, I really enjoy Aronimink Golf Course.

“It really suits my eye. It’s a very fair test. Great for the PGA Championship. It’s fun to play and I look forward to hopefully have another three good days.’’

The German star won the event in 2010 and became world No.1 the following year. He also triumphed at the 2014 US Open but has since managed only one top-10 finish at a major.

While Kaymer sets his sights on returning to his former glory, other top stars struggled on the opening day. Masters champion Rory McIlroy is tied for 103rd on four-over after ending with four consecutive bogeys, damaging his chances of winning the first two majors of the year. When asked to describe his round, McIlroy bluntly said: “S***.”

He continued: “I’m just not driving the ball well enough. It’s been a problem all year for the most part. I miss it right and then I want to try to correct it. And then I’ll overdo it, and I’ll miss it left.

“It’s a little bit of back and forth that way. So that’s pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well. I just need to try to figure it out. I honestly thought I’d figured it out.”