Martin Kaymer

Kaymer played only two PGA Tour events - the oppo Barracuda to prepare for the PGA Championship the following week. He missed both cuts. He's also out of the top-100 OWGR, so it's hard to tell how many events he'll be able to get into or will want to get into. As a former champ, he's eligible for the PGA but no other major.

The former World No. 1 continued his downward spiral in the 2018-19 season. In 14 starts on the PGA Tour, Kaymer's lone top-25 was a third place showing at the Memorial Tournament. He ranked 66th in SG: Tee-to-green, but 142nd in SG: Putting last season. One would think Kaymer could find a way to have a better season than last year, but the risk is how many starts he actually makes on the PGA Tour next season. It's best to avoid him.

Kaymer's first four months last season were a lot like his previous few years -- nothing special. What followed however was something special indeed. Kaymer won the PLAYERS Championship in early May, but he wasn't done. A month later he destroyed the field at the U.S. Open and claimed his second major. He didn't accomplish much outside those two events, but heck, winning the PLAYERS and the U.S. Open is an entire career for some players. The problem of course is that Kaymer cashed two humongous checks and he's unlikely to duplicate that effort this year. As such, he doesn't have much upside in a salary cap league. In draft leagues he should go somewhere in the second round.

Much was expected of Kaymer after capturing his first major at the PGA Championship a few years ago, but if anything, he's regressed over the past couple years. Kaymer certainly has enough talent to obliterate his 2013 number, but until he shows more consistency over the course of an entire PGA Tour season, he's probably not worth the pick. Kaymer does have value in draft formats though. He should go in the 80-90 range.

Kaymer is biting the bullet this year and joining the PGA TOUR full time. Once upon a time, only a handful of European players were on the PGA TOUR full time and those that were here had a difficult time adjusting. But with so many Euro's on the PGA TOUR now, that adjustment isn't as difficult. That should help Kaymer even though he probably doesn't need it.

A quick look at his earnings from last season and you have to wonder how it fell apart for Kaymer so quickly. A closer look reveals that his WGC Match-play runner-up finish and his WGC HSBC victory are not factored into that number. Those two showing alone are worth about $2 million, so not only was last year better than it looked, it might have been better than the year before when he won the PGA Championship. Kaymer is the real deal, and though his schedule is light, he should still be considered early in your draft.

Kaymer's PGA Tour earnings as a non-member are due almost entirely to his win at the 2010 PGA Championship. While Kaymer is certainly a fine player, his best play is generally reserved for overseas and the chances of a repeat of 2010 in the States is highly unlikely.

Kaymer's been highly touted as one of the top European players, but we've yet to see it on the PGA TOUR. He did show improvement last season, most notably in his final three events of the season, so there's hope for Kaymer in 2010, but there's still not quite enough evidence that a breakout is coming. Kaymer moved from 25th to finish 13th in the final 2009 Official World Golf Rankings.