THE MODERATOR: Martin, 3-under today. What can you tell us about your opening round.
MARTIN KAYMER: Really well. Didn't make many mistakes. Stayed out of trouble. Avoided those 5-, 6-, 7-footers for par that can be quite stressful. It can be a quite intimidating golf course, especially with that wind, cold wind we had today. So, the goal was to hit fairways and greens and try to hit a lot of those lag putts. And I did well of that.
Again, I avoided the big numbers. I made one poor tee shot and the rest of it was very consistent.
THE MODERATOR: Great. Thank you. Questions?
Q. A couple of things. Can you talk about 9 and, I mean, I think, I understand you hit a driver off the deck.
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I hit a lovely drive onto the middle of the fairway. And then I think I had 300 yards to the flag, uphill, and I said to my caddie, did he, do you think 3-wood can get to the front of the green? And he said, There's no chance. So, and I practice a lot driver from the fairway. It was a lovely lie on the fairway. The grass grows with you, so you know you're not going to hit it fat. That's usually the mistake that you do. And again, I practice it a lot and there's no reason, if you can do it in practice, why shouldn't you be able to do it in the tournament. So, and it was a nice one.
Q. And the other thing, it looks like it's been 25 years since there was two Germans in the top 5 in the first day of a major.
MARTIN KAYMER: Who was that?
Q. That was 2001 at The Open Championship with Bernhard and --
MARTIN KAYMER: Alex Cejka.
Q. Yeah.
MARTIN KAYMER: Okay. So we have one more going. I think Matti Schmidt is also playing well, so we'll see how he goes.
Q. What does it mean for you that it's going so well?
MARTIN KAYMER: Well Stephan is not really German anymore. He lives in America for a long time. He has a German passport and he speaks perfect German, but he's more American than German now.
Q. How would you assess this season coming into this week? Did you feel like you were going to come here and get off to such a good start?
MARTIN KAYMER: I've been playing well the last two, three events out on LIV. I didn't have good result, but I was playing well. And I knew I find more consistency. I really enjoy playing this golf course. Monday, Tuesday, I had so much fun on the golf course. I think it really suits my eye. It's a very fair test. Great for the PGA Championship.
But I tell you, I tell you funny story. 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 would be, 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, you know, 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's fun to play and I look forward to hopefully have another three good days.
Q. You spoke before the season that your health was finally coming around, that you were feeling a little bit healthier. Do you feel like this is as healthy as you've been going into a major in quite some time?
MARTIN KAYMER: For five years, yeah. I've been struggling since 2021. And obviously I had a couple surgeries then and other issues came with it the years after. And it was quite disappointing for me that playing out there on the LIV Golf league I could never really perform, because I could never really practice, because I was always hurt. I needed to -- obviously we all need to play the tournaments, and I didn't really have enough time and enough rest in between events to rest, to have a fully rest. So I always came into tournaments never prepared. The other guys were ready to play. They were playing great. To be honest, it really pissed me off. So fortunately last four, five weeks I had great treatments, I have no pain any more. Everything is going the right direction. I can practice. It's fun. I have a great passion for the game. Playing those tough golf courses and doing well executing the golf shots the right way, that is really fun.
Q. 2024 was the last year for your U.S. Open exemption. So this is the only major that you still have an exemption for. How much do you cherish these opportunities to still compete in them, in the majors?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, I mean, for several reasons. I really like to see some of the guys that I played Ryder Cups with, that I played many tournaments on the European Tour with. That is nice to see them. But also competing against the best guys in the world, you do that in majors. That is the ultimate. And winning the PGA in 2010 and the U.S. Open, that is the ultimate feeling. No tournament, it doesn't matter on what TOUR you can play can keep up with that. So having the opportunity every year now for the few more years that is great. And I'm very honored that I could, that I can do that and compete against the guys.
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