AP

PThe Germinator, Martin Kaymer, proved that he did not lose his machine-like focus after becoming the No. 1-player in the world earlier this year, going on a record-breaking tear on Sunday in Shanghai, China to win the World Golf Championship HSBC Champions.

Kaymer started his final round five strokes back of third-round leader Fredrik Jacobsen, but the 26-year-old major champion couldn’t get anything going early in his round, parring the first six holes when he needed to be making a move if he had any thoughts of making it into contention.

On the 7th hole, Kaymer looked that he could possibly be dropping his first shot of the day when he found himself in the green-side bunker needing to get up-and-down to save par. Instead of grinding out his par, Kaymer did himself one better, holing out from the bunker and spurring an incredible 12-hole stretch in which Kaymer birdied nine holes.

“It started off a little slow,” Kaymer said. “But then I holed a bunker shot on 7 for birdie and pretty much since then, I didn’t miss a lot of golf shots. I didn’t miss a lot of putts.”

The crazy thing in the Germinator’s 12-hole birdie fest is that he left some shots out there. Of course, you always hear about guys who go ridiculously low and then have the audacity to come in and talk to the media and say something like, ‘you know, that’s the worst I could have shot. I left some shots out there.’

For me, I always end up thinking, ‘alright buddy, whatever you say,’ but that’s not the case with this round. Kaymer really left some shots out there. He had a short birdie putt on the 9th hole that he missed and then he parred the par-5 14th hole as well as the short 288-yard par-4 16th that most of the guys were reaching with a 3-wood.

Then again, there’s not a lot you could complain about over that stretch of holes. Also working in Kaymer’s favor was the players around him not doing much to grab the tournament by the throat. Jacobsen was swapping birdies for bogeys, shooting a 1-under 71 and Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott didn’t exactly light-up Sheshan International.

McIlroy shot a solid round of 69 that included a birdie on the 18th hole that allowed him to finish in a tie for fourth place, that would move him up to second in the world rankings. Oosthuizen shot an even-par round of 72, Scott shot 73 and Westwood shot 74.

With Kaymer’s group playing in front of the 54-hole leader’s, Jacobsen was forced to leaderboard watch to see where he stood. With Kaymer’s four straight birdies on holes 10-13, he pulled ahead of Jacobsen, but the Swede answered with two birdies of his own on the 12th and 14th holes to keep himself in even.

Kaymer continued his stellar play with birdies on the 15th and 17th holes, putting too much pressure on Jacobsen who couldn’t answer, compounding his poor drive on 17 with a poor second shot that resulted in a bogey and two-shot deficit.

“I felt I was very much in it,” Jacobsen said, who finished in solo second place. “Obviously, 17 was a bit of a swing after I hit my tee shot. I knew if I was going to have a shot at it, I probably had to get up-and-down to have a realistic chance.”

Now with a two-shot cushion coming up the 72nd hole, Kaymer left nothing to chance, calmly (like everything else he does) rolling in a birdie putt to give him a final-round 63 and his second victory of the year, his other win coming at the HSBC Champions in Abu Dhabi in January.

Kaymer set two records for WGC events, one for the lowest final round score and the other for the largest deficit overcome to win (five shots).

Graeme McDowell, who similarly to Kaymer has had a let-down year in 2011, shot a final-round 67 to finish in solo third.

The win was a big one for Kaymer, who after having a magical 2010 that saw him clinch his first major championship at Whistling Straits, went on to become the top player in the world, joining Bernhard Langer as the only other German-born player to reach the prestigious plateau.

Along with the No. 1 label came the pressure and publicity associated with being the world’s best golfer. Now under more scrutiny and more desired to make appearances, Kaymer’s game lacked and he missed half of the cuts at the majors in 2011.

“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,” Kaymer said. “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 recognized me because obviously golf is a little bit bigger in America than in Germany.

“But it has been 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, and hopefully it will happen again, because I know what’s going to happen, I know how to approach that thing.”

Kaymer cashed $1.2 million for the win, par for the course for a WGC event, as well as moving up the official world rankings back to No. 4.

Kaymer will have two weeks off before the World Cup in China at Mission Hills. He will also play in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa and the Dubai World Championships during back-to-back weeks in early December.