Martin Kaymer might be No. 1 in the World Golf Ranking, but since he is not a member of the PGA Tour, he needed an exemption to play in the Transitions Championship this week.
Tournament officials were happy to oblige, since they never have had the top player in the world in their field in the 10-year history of the event, even though Tiger Woods lives only an hour or so away from the Tampa-area event.
Having a No. 1 in the field ought to sell some tickets, and Kaymer already has had an economic impact on Florida this month.
The second German to hold the title of best golfer on the planet, 25 years after compatriot Bernhard Langer, made more than a fashion statement when he wore a blue-and-white buff around his neck to ward off the cold in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships.
Black Fly Outfitter of Jacksonville, which usually sells about 10 of the buffs in a week at $23 a pop, saw about 900 of them disappear off the shelves in a six-day period.
"It's the kind of advertisement money can't buy," said Vaughn Cochran, who owns Black Fly and designed the buff for fishermen. "We're looking at our (online) shopping cart to make sure it doesn't blow up."
Cochran said the Black Fly website received 122,000 hits in the week after Kaymer wore his buff on television broadcasts around the world, and Vaughn hopes to cash in further by giving the new No. 1 a fly-fishing lesson on camera at a PGA Tour event.
The 26-year-old Kaymer had better be ready for it because this promises to be only the beginning of the people who want to ride his coattails to fame and/or fortune.
He already has sought and received counsel from Langer, who offered this advice: "Keep your circle (of friends and advisers) as small as possible."
Perhaps fortunately, Kaymer's biggest successes, including his first major title in the PGA Championship last August at Whistling Straits, have come away from his homeland.
Already, there are comparisons to Germany's greatest sports icons, including Boris Becker, Franz Beckenbauer and Michael Schumacher.
Kaymer is smart enough not to buy into any of that.
"Those three dominated their sports for decades and inspired a whole country," he told the Cologne Express when asked if he could spark the same interest in his sport as those legends did in theirs.
"I am only at the beginning of my career and still have many years ahead of me in which I must prove that I belong amongst the best golfers. Such comparisons do not honestly sit well with me at all."
Kaymer made a steady rise up the rankings after turning pro in 2005 following victories in the 2003 Austrian Amateur and the 2005 German Amateur.
He won the 2005 Central German Classic on the European Development Tour before turning pro and added five more titles on the circuit en route to the PGA European Tour.
Even though he didn't win in 2007, he captured the Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award on the Euro Tour and then claimed five victories on the circuit through the Abu Dhabi Championship early in 2010.
Then he fast-tracked to No. 1.
Kaymer defeated Bubba Watson by one stroke in a three-hole playoff in the PGA, starting a surge in which he won four times in 10 official events through his successful title defense at Abu Dhabi in January.
When he beat Watson again, 1-up in the semifinals of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship earlier this month, he wrested the No. 1 ranking from Lee Westwood, who had taken it from Woods late last year.
Losing to now-No. 3 Luke Donald 3 and 2 the next day in the Accenture final took only a little luster off the achievement.
"I want to keep playing successfully, win further titles, defend others and stay for as long as I can at No. 1," said Kaymer, who leads four Europeans at the top of the rankings.
"It's fantastic to have four Europeans up there. It was always Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. I'm sure Tiger and Phil will chase us, but the guys who are up there are very consistent, good players. So I can see them staying there for a while."
The 53-year-old Langer, the two-time Masters champion who has been Champions Tour Player of the Year the past three seasons, held the No. 1 ranking for three weeks in 1986.
He doesn't see Kaymer relinquishing it anytime soon.
"From a golfing standpoint, he can do anything," said Langer, who is enshrined in the World Golf Hall of Fame. "He has no limits. He hits it far. He hits it straight. His short game is getting better and better.
"He has a very good head on his shoulders, and that's what counts. . . . Being No. 1 won't go to his head."
Germany is bidding for the 2018 Ryder Cup against France, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, with the site to be announced next month.
None of the other countries has an ace like Kaymer to play.
