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Kaymer concedes defeat to 'little English one'

Martin Kaymer was an impressive winner on Sunday in Shanghai © Getty Images

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Martin Kaymer has given up on any attempt to catch Luke Donald in the Race to Dubai standings, as the newly crowned WGC-HSBC Champions winner will not amend his schedule to pursue the world No. 1.

After his victory in China on Sunday, Kaymer is now just over £900,000 behind the Englishman in the overall European Tour standings, but the German does not intend to play in a counting event until the season finale - where the winner's prize is not enough for him to claim the top prize.

That means new world No. 2 Rory McIlroy is the only man who can still overhaul Donald - the Northern Irishman can potentially overcome his £985,000 deficit with victory in Dubai and at the Hong Kong Open in December.

Kaymer, who leapfrogged Dustin Johnson and Steve Stricker to return to No. 4 in the world rankings, is also unsure whether he can go on to overtake Luke Donald and reclaim the world No. 1 spot he held for eight weeks earlier this year.

"As long as the little English one [Donald] is up there, it's going to be very difficult," the 2010 US PGA champion said. "He's a very, very solid player, and obviously through Christian, my caddie and Luke's brother, I get a lot of information about the way he practises and the way he plays!

"He's a very nice guy and he deserves to be No. 1 in the world. He deserves to be No. 1 in Europe. Of course I will try to give him a hard time but we'll see. It's not easy to get him away from the No. 1 spot."

The 26-year-old believes he can now consider 2011 a successful season after claiming his second victory, as he also won the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in January. He admits that he initially struggled with the attention that came with being world No. 1, but believes he now knows what it takes to return to that status.

"So far it has been an okay season, but with that win, it has been a good season. I won an HSBC tournament in Abu Dhabi this year in January, and it's nice to finish off with an HSBC tournament," he said. "When I became the No. 1 in the world ... my life changed a little bit; not only mine, for the people I work with, my family.

"Let's say, for me, it was a tough stretch of months, because it's not normal that at my age you become No. 1 in the world. All of a sudden, you have more attention. Doesn't matter really where you go. In my own country, I became the German golf face. In America, a lot of people recognised me because obviously golf is a little bit bigger in America than in Germany.

"But it has been, you know, a little awkward situation sometimes, because I was just not used to be that much in the spotlight. And it took some time to get used to it, but hopefully it will happen again, because I know what's going to happen, I know how to approach that thing."

Elsewhere in the latest world rankings, Tiger Woods has dropped a further two places to 58th. Adam Scott, whose caddie Steve Williams has been embroiled in a race row, remains eighth.

World rankings: 1. Luke Donald (ENG), 2. Rory McIlroy (NIR), 3. Lee Westwood (ENG), 4. Martin Kaymer (GER), 5. Dustin Johnson (USA), 6. Steve Stricker (USA), 7. Jason Day (AUS), 8. Adam Scott (AUS), 9. Matt Kuchar (USA), 10. Webb Simpson (USA), 11. Phil Mickelson (USA), 12. Nick Watney (USA), 13. Charl Schwartzel (SAF), 14. Graeme McDowell (NIR), 15. KJ Choi (KOR), 16. Justin Rose (ENG), 17. Bubba Watson (USA), 18. Sergio Garcia (ESP), 19. Hunter Mahan (USA). 20. Paul Casey (ENG).

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