Congratulations to Martin Kaymer on winning the 2014 U.S. Open! The German’s wire-to-wire win gave him his second career major and second victory in 2014. The 29-year-old started the tournament by posting a 5-under-par 65 in the first round and dominated the field the rest of the weekend. Kaymer won with a 9-under 271 while Rickie Fowler and Eric Compton tied for second at at 1-under. This win puts Kaymer in the history books. Here are just a few of the reasons why:
Martin Kaymer’s eight-stroke victory is tied for the fourth-largest margin of victory in U.S. Open history. Tiger Woods (2000, 15 strokes), Willie Smith (1899, 11 strokes) and James Barnes (1921, nine strokes) are the only players with larger winning margins. Kaymer’s total ties Rory McIlroy’s eight-stroke victory in 2011.
Martin Kaymer’s eight-stroke victory in the 2014 U.S. Open is tied for the ninth-largest margin of victory in major championship history.
Martin Kaymer’s 72-hole total of 271 is the second-lowest score in U.S. Open history. Rory McIlroy’s 268 at the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional is the lowest.
Martin Kaymer’s 9-under-par score ranks behind only Rory McIlroy (2011, 16 under) and Tiger Woods (2000, 12 under) for most strokes under par in a U.S. Open.
Martin Kaymer is the first German to win a U.S. Open. Kaymer is the second German to win a major championship, having previously won the 2010 PGA Championship to join Bernard Langer, winner of the 1985 and 1993 Masters.
Martin Kaymer is the first player to win both the U.S. Open and The Players Championship in the same year.
Martin Kaymer is the eighth U.S. Open champion who led start-to-finish with no ties. Walter Hagen (1914), James Barnes (1921), Ben Hogan (1953), Tony Jacklin (1970), Tiger Woods (2000, 2002) and Rory McIlroy (2011) are the others.
Martin Kaymer is the 18th player to have won both the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship.
Martin Kaymer is just the third 54-hole leader to win the U.S. Open in the last 10 years. Rory McIlroy (2011) and Tiger Woods (2008) are the others.
The 2014 championship came in Martin Kaymer’s seventh U.S. Open appearance. His best previous finish was a T-8 in 2010 at Pebble Beach. He had never previously broken par for 72 holes in a U.S. Open.
Need more reasons why we’ll be talking about Martin Kaymer’s win for a long time? Check out Back 9 Network’s By the Numbers: 2014 U.S. Open
That’s not to say that Martin Kaymer was the only won to wow us. Here are Scratch’s favorite moments of the 2014 U.S. Open!
Ken Duke’s par on the 9th hole on friday. This man must know some voodoo to pull this one off.
Miguel Angel Jimenez’s classic sword sheath(that’s not an innuendo). Jimenez is always the coolest dude on the course. At the par-4 third hole, Jimenez mined his pit of awesomeness to get an eagle to push him up to 3-over for the tournament. The best part? the way he celebrated.
Zach Johnson sinks a hole-in-one and celebrates with everyone.
Kenny Perry, the oldest man in the field, scored this unimaginable eagle on the 14th hole. Not to bad for 53 years old.
