Ahead of the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, Martin Kaymer took some time away from the practice ground to be grilled by 35 local school children at Jumeirah Golf Estates, who were visiting the European Tour’s season-ending tournament as part of a Pobble Writing workshop, a global literacy initiative for enhancing the writing skills of children.
Kaymer may have overcome the biggest challenges in all of sport when he won two Major Championships and holed the winning point for Europe at the 2012 Ryder Cup, but this was a whole different kind of pressure……
The whole transcript is well worth a read, though, with some priceless advice offered up...
THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to this extremely special press conference with Mr. Martin Kaymer.
Martin, thank you for your time. These young, inquisitive minds are going to ask you a few questions, but before we go to questions from the floor, tell us about this golf tournament and how much you're looking forward to it.
MARTIN KAYMER: Well, the golf tournament is obviously a very special one for us. When you make it to this last tournament here, you've done fairly decent throughout the whole year, so it's definitely one of the biggest tournaments worldwide. Definitely top three on The European Tour, when you put in the BMW PGA at Wentworth and maybe The Open.
This is our tenth anniversary here at Jumeirah Golf Estates and that is very special for the event, for the occasion, but also for me to be here ten years in a row this play this golf course. I like this part of the world.
THE MODERATOR: That's enough of the boring stuff from me so we're going to get to the good questions now.
Q. Is breaking up with your caddie good or bad?
MARTIN KAYMER: Is it good or bad to break up with my caddie? I think if you find the right reasons why you break up with somebody, I think you will find out in your future, also, when you need to break up with your boyfriend, it has to be the right reasons. And you need to ask yourself, first of all, the right questions. Things like: ‘what do I want out of that relationship?’ And if you don't get what you want, then you need to move on.
So now you need to decide for yourself, is it good or bad. I think it's a selfish thing; you need to worry about yourself first, for the greater good. But in that caddie and player relationship, it isn't as emotional as in relationships that you hopefully have one day with a boy.
Q. Who is your arch-enemy in golf, and why?
MARTIN KAYMER: I don't know what that means.
Q. Like your biggest rival.
MARTIN KAYMER: Like another player? I would say, I would really like to have a head-to-head again against Jordan Spieth. Do you know Jordan Spieth, the American guy? He's a tough one to beat because of the way he plays, so I can see a good rivalry there. So that would be my answer.
Q. What was the greatest moment in your golf career?
MARTIN KAYMER: Greatest memory, if I had to pick one………how old are you?
A. Nine.
MARTIN KAYMER: Okay. You were three when this happened. Maybe your parents watched it, I don't know. It was in 2012 when I played The Ryder Cup in America and it came down to my last shot. If I holed the shot, Europe wins The Ryder Cup; but if I miss the shot then America wins The Ryder Cup.
So fortunately, I was able to make that putt, and that was probably the most satisfying, the most emotional moment I ever had on the golf course.
Q. After years of hard work and dedication, and sweat, how much money do you have in your bank account and can I have some gore golf lessons?
MARTIN KAYMER: How much money I have in my bank account? I know exactly how much money I have, but the main thing is……….okay, let's put it the other way around.
When I turned pro, for me it was important, like it is for any man, one day for you also, is to provide for your family one day; if you have a wife or if you have children.
Fortunately after being a professional for three or four years, I had that luxury that I didn't need to worry about the rest of my life anymore, about my financial thing.
So the amount of money after that stage, I think does not really matter, because then you need to take the money, and make your life as comfortable as possible.
So if you have 20 million, 30 million, 100 million dollars, at one stage, I think, obviously it doesn't make you happier because your lifestyle does not change. So you need to be more worried about the people around you; that you can actually provide through your success, can provide a better life for the people around you.
So maybe one day you can help your parents and siblings if you have any. You know, I'm trying to avoid your question, young man. I'm trying to get there (laughter) so hopefully you don't notice!
THE MODERATOR: That means you've got too much money. Next.
Q. What sacrifices did you have to make in order to become a professional golfer?
MARTIN KAYMER: What kind of sacrifice I need to make?
First of all, you need to be okay by being alone. Not lonely, but you need to be okay with being alone. You need to spend a lot of time on your own. You don't see your family, your friends as much as you like. You can try to get them out to tournaments once in a while, but it's a big sacrifice. You know, the people you love, the people who give you energy, the people you want to surround yourself with, you need to understand that this is going to, that time you spend with those people is going to get less.
But on the other hand, if you love doing what you do; if you find your passion, in whatever it is, if you play football, if you like art, or if you want to become a journalist or whatever you want to be one day, if you find happiness and satisfaction in that, then you don't miss your friends that much anymore because you do what you love to do, so then it's okay.
Q. Apart from your training, what else has helped you with your golf career?
MARTIN KAYMER: I think through the traveling, you develop or you understand your own culture a little bit better. So you find yourself as a person, I think a bit quicker, a bit faster, than if you would stay at home the whole time.
Overall, that makes you a more mature person, even though you're still young, and if you have the majority on the golf course, in combination with that training, overall, as a person, you develop quite well and quite fast, and that definitely helped me to become a more successful player because the training just gets you to a certain point, but you also need that mental strength, maturity in order to win golf tournaments. So those are two parts, I would say.
Q. Is there a special lady in your life?
MARTIN KAYMER: Special lady? (Laughter) You know, unfortunately, I don't have any female in my life anymore. No grandparents, no mother, no sisters, no anything like that, and we are living in the world here on tour where you're only surrounded by guys, which can be quite frustrating sometimes.
But again, through travelling around the world, you meet a lot of people. So once in a while, you meet someone that you like, and then you go for a drink, and then maybe you stay in touch, maybe you don't….
THE MODERATOR: Moving on.
MARTIN KAYMER: That was a wonderful question.
Q. Since you are from the same town as the character from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, what's your favourite chocolate bar?
MARTIN KAYMER: Do you know those little balls, Ferrero Rocher? I struggle when I see that whole box, I think they are eight on top and eight on the bottom. So that will last me half a match of a football game. So Ferrero Rocher will be my thing.
And last week we played a tournament in South Africa, and they had free Rochers everywhere, so I gained maybe a kilo or so.
What's yours?
A. I don't know.
MARTIN KAYMER: What do you mean? I gave you an answer. Come on. Give me something.
Q. Kinder.
MARTIN KAYMER: It's Italiano.
Q. How to you cope under pressure, especially on the 18th hole?
MARTIN KAYMER: It depends on your situation. If you are about to win a golf tournament, it's a pressure that I really embrace, that I really enjoy because every pressure situation is different. Your body, everything feels very different, because that situation only appears once.
And also, it depends on how big the title is that you are playing for. If we were going tomorrow on Thursday, around four o'clock, and you play the 18th hole, there's not much pressure. The people, you get so used to.
I'm a professional now for 12, 13 years, and so you really get used to the people, if there are 20 people watching or if there are 20,000, yeah, the atmosphere is nicer, but it doesn't change any of the emotions, really.
THE MODERATOR: What about on the Sunday of when you're trying to win a tournament and you're playing the 18th hole?
MARTIN KAYMER: On Sunday, it's different. I think you rely a lot on your experiences. Obviously I had a few times, I had a chance to win a golf tournament.
Once in a while, I won a golf tournament and I think it's very important to reflect on your emotions and the reasons why you won, because a lot of people, maybe they already teach you that in school, that you learn more from defeat or learn more from if you lose something.
I sometimes disagree with that because it's really 50/50. You learn from losses, but you also learn a lot from winning. You just need to reflect on why you won and why you lost, because both have reasons, and I think once you understand them, then you can work with them and then you can learn from that and then next time, you understand certain situations better.
Q. What inspired you to be a professional golfer, and what do you enjoy about golf?
MARTIN KAYMER: Inspired, for me, it was really, how can I say, without being too religious here but it was a calling in many ways. When I stood on the golf course, I was the happiest person; the happiest than anywhere else.
Obviously I played football for a long time. I enjoyed that. But being on the golf course made me when I was 14, 15, 16, 17, made me really happy. I didn't mind getting up in the morning, playing golf. I liked that dew on the grass, the water in the morning. I really enjoyed all those aspects.
So I never really need to force myself to go and play. So that was very lucky that I found something and I found my passion quite early in my life. Because I always think that kids, you also have a very good chance if your parents take to you different sports. You know, you will find one sport more attractive than the other, and it's quite a luxury thing and quite lucky when your parents take you to try different things so that you can find out for yourself what you're good at and what you maybe don't like, which is also maybe as important as to understand what you like.
So that was really inspiring for me. I inspired myself, really, by enjoying the time on the golf course.
Q. What was your worst performance in golf, and how did you recover?
MARTIN KAYMER: My worst performance in golf was in 2015, I played a tournament in Abu Dhabi, and I was leading the golf tournament by ten shots, and I had 11 or 12 holes to go, and I completely screwed up.
You do recover from it, but I recovered quite quickly because I was brave enough to ask myself the right questions: Why did I screw up and why did I play so poorly? You need to ask yourself the questions and they are quite difficult because you need to be very honest with yourself and it took me only three or four days to recover.
But it still stays with you, as much as good things stay with you. You know, it's part of your journey, and that's just and it's okay. You can't be always successful. It's fine to screw up. You just need to understand why.
Q. We often discuss wellbeing at our school. Does golf contribute to your wellbeing, and if so, how?
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, wellbeing, I think that's the ultimate goal of our daily life, I would say. If you are already focusing on wellbeing, I mean, that's amazing, if you can do that.
I need to ask you later after I answer the question, what do you do for wellbeing on a daily thing, but you can think about it. I give you a minute. Let me answer.
What I do is, you know, when I have a day off, when I have a week off, once in a while, I really treat myself to something that is very unusual. Unusual not in the sense of a material thing that no one else can get. I just ask myself, what would I like to do the most today; what makes me happy, without any responsibility, without thinking about other people, what do I want to do.
And that makes you feel quite free. That's the ultimate goal for me, always has been, and I notice it's achievable to be free. And also for you, the boys and girls here, the ultimate goal is to have the freedom in life that you can create yourself, without responsibilities.
So the wellbeing is a tricky one, because it depends on other people sometimes because there are emotions involved, but if you just see it for what it is, and follow what you feel like is the right thing to do right now, from that pa rticular day, you should be fine.
So now that you have enough time to think, what are you doing at school, about your wellbeing?
A.Well, I treat myself to football every break.
MARTIN KAYMER: Okay. Makes you happy?
A. Yeah. And I'm grateful to actually be able to be taught the things I am being taught. And I was brought here today by, well, my skills, but really, that was left to the teachers, and so they gave me that privilege of knowing that I can write and I can have my wellbeing.
MARTIN KAYMER: Is that how you really think? (Laughter) that's amazing. That's very good. You appreciate the time that you can spend at school to be taught and to understand more about yourself, more about where you want to be one day.
You know, what I learned now, when you are sitting in school, playing around, not listening to the teachers, it's all fine. I've done it also.
But you can also sit there and try to listen, because you're going to sit there, anyways. You can't escape. You can escape with your thoughts maybe, but there's a point where you're going to be in school and if you see it, the way you see it, you know, you use it very well.
Like you use the time in a very high quality. You don't waste any of your time. So that's very good. You should be proud of yourself.
Q. In your opinion, who do you think is the best golfer in this competition? Who do you think will be the best golfer next year?
MARTIN KAYMER: This week, I think the best golfer right now, to win this tournament, I would put my bet on Sergio García.
The second part was?
A. Who do you think will be the best golfer in the world next year.
MARTIN KAYMER: It's speculation, but, I hope for him, it's going to happen one day, is Rickie Fowler. Because Rickie Fowler is an under achieved player in my opinion. You know Rickie Fowler, the American guy? No? He's a touch older than you, not much, but just a bit. You have a nice smile, too, just like him.
I put my money on those two guys, Sergio García this week and Rickie Fowler next year.
Q. Why are your arms always so shiny?
MARTIN KAYMER: That is not your question. Somebody told you that (laughter).
THE MODERATOR: Answer the question, Martin.
MARTIN KAYMER: You know, first of all, I need to say, I really don't do that on purpose. I get a lot of crap from people about that.
Now I get also crap from kids about it, which is okay, but it's just….. I think it's a combination, that my skin, I don't know, it just starts being shiny. I don't know why that is. I don't know what I should do.
Who told you to ask me that question?
A. Him. (Pointing to teacher).
MARTIN KAYMER: But I want a question from you. Give me some question that is really interesting for you, whatever topic, whatever. It does not matter. Just ask me anything.
A. Do you think you'll repeat what you did in 2010?
MARTIN KAYMER: If I can repeat it? Do you know what I did in 2010?
A. You won the same tournament.
MARTIN KAYMER: Yeah, 2010 was a good year for me. Of course, I 100 per cent trust that I cannot that I can win it the same way, which would be not accurate, because of what I have been through. You win tournaments different.
But I think I can become the No. 1 in Europe again. I can hopefully become the No. 1 in the world again. That is definitely one of my goals and my hopes and wishes. Because once you achieve something, once you achieve it, you prove to yourself, which is more important than proving to others, you prove to yourself that you can do it.
So then, are you permitted again to put in the right work to get there again; that's the question.
So am I committed to do it again? Absolutely. Because I love that journey. It does not give you happiness, maybe for a moment to raise that trophy and people clap and say well done. That gives you shorter happiness.
But when you look at it, why you won that trophy, how you got there, that is a very proud moment, because you suffered, you worked, you sacrificed a lot, but in an authentic and healthy way for yourself.
So that makes you happy, that journey, and you will find out, one day, you will achieve something, and you will see, okay, that's just the result, but the way that you got it, that's very nice.
So I think I can do it, yes.
Q. We're going to write about an important putt today. What was your most important putt? What did it feel like, and do you have any tip to deal with the pressure?
MARTIN KAYMER: Okay. What I said already, I think it was one of the first questions, back in 2012, at The Ryder Cup, that was the most important putt of my career.
How did I feel? Fortunately I was very aware of the situation. I was very present. I was not nervous. I was excited about making something amazing happen, first and foremost for myself, because I think it's very lucky to be in that position to have that much pressure not created by yourself; created by outer circumstances, by other players, to be in that situation.
Secondly, you can do something for the European Ryder Cup Team, and obviously for my country.
So how did I deal with it? I didn't think. You can't force yourself not to think. It just happened. It was lucky that my focus was so deep and, you know, I don't know if you have heard about it, when you are in that zone, when your body just takes over and you are not able to think about the movements, about the outcome, about anything, you just let your body take over and do it.
So I was very lucky that maybe I was not smart enough to think, to understand, what the situation is about.
So fortunately, I could rely on a lot of my practice, a lot of my talent and will to be successful in that moment.
My tip, the tip is if you practice and work hard on something that you really like, you will be enough prepared one day for those situations. And if you are not prepared enough for the situation, then you know you need to work on it. It's actually fairly simple. That would be my tip. Work hard and follow what you like to do. It's that simple.
