Golf: German Martin Kaymer has deposed Tiger Woods as world number two with a resounding eight-shot win over Rory McIlroy at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
The latter was one of three Ulstermen in the top five – along with Graeme McDowell and Gareth Maybin – while Retief Goosen played himself into a share of third with a 64.
The South African finished, with McDowell (67), on 14 under, two adrift of McIlroy (69) and two ahead of Maybin (69).
The day, however, and winners cheque of €334,398, belonged to last season’s ‘Race to Dubai’ winner Kaymer after he shot a 66 for a 24-under-par total of 264.
His ninth European Tour title was his third Abu Dhabi victory in four years and pushes Woods further down the rankings, with Lee Westwood still hanging on to first place. It means there is an all-European top two for the first time since July 1993, when the Anglo-German pairing of Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer occupied the top spots.
Indeed, Europe has three of the top four with US Open champion McDowell now ahead of Phil Mickelson rather than just level with him. Masters winner Mickelson managed only 37th place in what was his first event since mid-November.
McIlroy, meanwhile, moves up from 12th to seventh.
“It’s just the perfect course for me,” said Kaymer afterwards. “It was more difficult, but I hit a lot of fairways and my putting was amazing. It was just one of those weeks when everything goes my way.
“I never expected my career to go this fast. There was not a lot to improve this week, but there’s always something and I’ll be working on my game before Qatar in two weeks.”
Kaymer still considers Woods the best player in the world and said of being ahead of him in the rankings: “Hopefully I can stay there for a while.”
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