Martin Kaymer's eight-stroke victory in North Carolina on Sunday
was greeted with widespread praise within golfing circles, but the
29-year-old's runaway triumph barely registered in soccer-mad
Germany as the World Cup kicked off in Brazil.
"I feel nothing about his win... no sorrow, no happiness," said
Berlin accountancy firm employee Anne Ihle, adding that Kaymer's
victory had been "buried" in an avalanche of news about Germany's
bid to end an 18-year soccer title drought.
It was "bad timing", said Christian Hansel, a 38-year-old product
manager. He was not a golf fan but did remember Bernhard Langer, who
along with Kaymer is the only other German to have won two majors,
with Masters titles in 1985 and 1993.
The top-selling German daily Bild, which runs a "winner" and "loser"
column on its front page, put Kaymer in both categories on Tuesday,
remarking that "Germans are only talking about the Schumi-wonder and
the start of the team's World Cup bid".
On Monday, seven times Formula One champion Schumacher, who suffered
severe head injuries in a skiing accident last year, had come out of
a coma and was transferred to a Swiss medical center, officials
said, without giving details of his condition.
RETURN TO FORM
Despite the other big stories, the German golfing community did pay
attention to Kaymer's win, according to Timo Schlitz, who covers the
sport on the Golf.de website, telling Reuters that traffic rose
substantially during the U.S. Open.
German Golf Association chairman Marcus Neumann added that the lack
of media attention would not diminish the scintillating return to
form for Kaymer, whose rise to the number one ranking after winning
the 2010 PGA Championship proved short-lived.
[to top of second column] |
"For the golfing world itself, it doesn't matter; for Kaymer it
doesn't matter. He will pass into golf history and in a few years
nobody will talk about it coinciding with the World Cup," Neumann
told Reuters.
He believed that Kaymer - who himself wanted to be a professional
soccer player - would be rooting for his friends on the German
squad, like Bastian Schweinsteiger, who sat out Monday's game, and
Lukas Podolski, who tweeted about Kaymer's "legendary performance"
just before the match against Portugal.
Kaymer is due to play at the BMW International Open in Cologne next
week and despite the tournament taking place during the World Cup,
Neumann still expects to see an increase in public and media
interest thanks to his U.S. Open victory.
"The parking lots in Cologne are going to be crowded with
spectators," Neumann said.
(Editing by Stephen Brown/John O'Brien)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|