Martin Kaymer ties the course record at TPC Sawgrass with opening 63

It hasn’t exactly been an easy go of it for Martin Kaymer since becoming the top golfer in the world back in 2011. Kaymer had a career year in ’10 to jump up the rankings, and after a runner-up finish at the Accenture Match Play it was the top ranking for a man who looked like he had the golf world in his grasp.

But as we’ve seen so many times before, Kaymer lost it. He hasn’t had a professional win since November of 2011, and while it has been better in 2014 for the 29-year-old German, he was still looking for that one round that could get him back on track.

It happened on Thursday at the Players Championship, where Kaymer tied the course record with a 9-under 63, making nine pars and nine birdies and bringing up one of the most beautiful scorecards you will see this season.

Of course, low scores aren’t new to Kaymer. In his pre-European Tour days, Kaymer shot a 13-under 59 at the EPD Tour event including a bogey, and his last win, at the HSBC Champions in ’11, included a final round 63 that gave him the three-shot win.

Now comes the hard part for any golfer going dirty low. Kaymer has to go out and follow up a bogey-free round of 63 with something else salty if he wants to stay atop this stacked Players leaderboard. But, being atop a leaderboard and hoping for a second straight good round is better than sitting near the bottom wondering just how in the world you can make it to the weekend.

Here is Kaymer’s final birdie of his day, on the par-5 9th.

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