WGC-Cadillac Championship: Martin Kaymer says being world No 1 has not changed his life
A phone call from Bernhard Langer, a surprise visit from dad, Horst, and a cake with No 1 on it in a Scottsdale restaurant were the highlights of Martin Kaymer's first week as the highest ranking golfer on the planet.
Satisfied: Martin Kaymer is pleased to be world No 1 but is refusing to get carried away Photo: GETTY IMAGES
By Kevin Garside 6:46PM GMT 08 Mar 2011
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None of these things turned his head. Kaymer splintered a few Teutonic stereotypes when he confessed to not knowing how the rankings matrix works.
Very un-Germanic. Neither is he fixated on retaining the badge. For him the significance of reaching world No 1 resides in the process rather than the thing itself. He must be doing something right, is the theory.
"I've been No 1 in the world for at least seven days. No-one can take that away from me. It's a nice thing but it doesn't change my life.
"A lot of people say you must be the happiest person in the world now and I say 'yeah, I'm happy, I'm satisfied but there's still something missing. Maybe I will find out in the next 12 months."
Or maybe, on the grounds that one never misses something until it is gone, in the next five days. Should Lee Westwood win the Cadillac Championship at Doral on Sunday, he goes back to the top.
He is the only one capable of unseating Kaymer this weekend. He could, depending on Kaymer's placing, do it by finishing in the top four.
As is the way of things these days the organisers found a way of grouping Kaymer and Westwood in the same three-ball alongside Luke Donald.
Yes, that would be the world one, two and three. Funnily enough Graeme McDowell plays with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Yes, that would be numbers four, five and six in the world.
The truncated, invite-only field for the second World Golf Championship of the year boasts the world's top 50. Since there are only 72 players contesting the event there is no cut, which allows for a Lazarus like comeback over the weekend should form prove elusive early.
Europe's domination of the rankings could become even more pronounced here with Paul Casey and Rory McIlroy in a position to displace Woods and Mickelson at five and six.
Conversely a win for Woods could take him back to No 2 if Westwood is buried down the field.
The winner takes home a chunk of ranking points and $1.4million (£875,000), not that elite golfers are counting the pennies anymore.
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