Maximilian

Kieffer

The German put on a short-game clinic as he finished the week ranked 1st in strokes gained around-the-green and 2nd in strokes gained putting. That turned into 19 birdies with all but one of them coming on holes 1 thru 12 at Albatross Golf Resort. Kieffer was playing his 249th career event and finally crossed the line. The emotions were pouring out after the win, “I just love golf, I just love to play golf. Even if I had not won, I still have a great life, I still enjoy playing golf. So now to win it’s even better.” He jumps to 32nd in the DP World Tour Rankings with this result.

The German posted back-to-back runner-up finishes early in the season then bobbed and weaved his way to the finish line. He landed at 52nd in the final Race to Dubai rankings, the best of his career (55th in 2015). Kieffer had this to say after the season was over, “Quality and consistency of iron shots, driving distance and putting are clearly still the 3 weaknesses. The other parts of the game are definitely good enough to reach all my goals.” His superb accuracy still allowed him to finish 79th in strokes gained off-the-tee, he was 52nd in approach, but outside of the top 100 in around-the-green and putting. the 31-year-old ahd six career podium finishes but is still searching for his first win on the DP World Tour.

The 31-year-old Kieffer, who’s won once on the Challenge Tour in 2012, opened with a 6-under 66 at the Dutch Open and followed up with a bogey-free 68 in his second round at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, Netherlands. He went 72-71 over the weekend to finish T-15 and move up to No. 44 in the Race to Dubai standings. Kieffer told media his goal is to lock up a spot among the top 50 in the R2D in order to secure his start at Jumeirah Golf Estates for the first time. “I have my eye on the top 50 to get to Dubai,” he said. “I am inside that now, but I have to play good golf over the next couple of weeks, so that is definitely the goal.” On the season, Kieffer has made 12 cuts in 19 starts including his last four straight. He finished runner-up twice this season in back-to-back starts – at the Austrian Golf Open and Gran Canaria Lopesan Open – and has two other finishes inside the top 25. Kieffer will next play in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship the week following the Ryder Cup. In six previous starts in Scotland, he’s made just once cut, finishing T-51 in 2014.

The 30-year-old Kieffer looked to be trending in the right direction following back-to-back second-place finishes at the Austrian Golf Open and the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open but has since missed the cut at the Tenerife Open, British Masters and last week’s Made in HimmerLand. However, he says he buoyed by the prospect of home support this week as the event will allow approximately 2,000 spectators daily. “With crowds back, I’m really looking forward to playing at home,” he said. “I think we’ve all missed the crowds, and then when you play at home in front of home spectators it’s always extra special. When I played in Austria, where I played well but lost in the play-off, it would have been nice to have had them -- I definitely felt as though they were missing there.” Kieffer, who is 6-for-11 this season, is still in search of his first European Tour title after losing on the fifth playoff hole to John Catlin in Austria.

The 30-year-old German fired a final-round 6-under 66 to finish at 14-under 274 and tied with Catlin, then matched the American through four more trips around the par-3 18th hole before hitting two shots into the water on their fifth go and carding a quintuple bogey. His final round included two bogeys, which he combatted with six birdies and an eagle on the par-5 fourth. After missing the cut in his first two 2021 starts (Abu Dhabi, Dubai), Kieffer got some momentum rolling with a T29 at the Saudi International and has made the cut in four consecutive starts since. Last season ended on a disappointing note for the former University of Florida golfer, who made the cut just once over his final six starts (9-of-18 overall) in 2020 – a T17 at the Cyprus Open in October. Since joining the tour in 2013, Kieffer’s best season came in 2015 when he made 27 of 29 cuts including 22 straight en route to finishing a career-best 55th in the Race to Dubai and No. 198 in the world rankings. He currently stands No. 476 in the OWGR.

The German has pegged it up five times this season so far, starting with missed cuts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai but cashing in the Saudi International (T72), Oman Open (T30) and Qatar Masters (T53). That suggests things could be turning a little although in those same three events last year he posted 57-2-14 so they were decent events for him. The German ended 2015 at 198th in the world rankings but is now down at 471st although, to add another angle, he’d missed 13 of 16 cuts before his recent upturn. He’ll hope the break won’t affect his forward momentum and it’s worth remembering that he’s finished in the top 100 on the Race To Dubai for the last five seasons.

This season is going nicely for the German and he sits at a comfortable 43rd in the Race to Dubai rankings. But it is also a reminder of his career in microcosm. He was T22 in Abu Dhai after having been T5 with 18 holes to play, T2 in the Oman Open, T5 in the Maybank Championship (T3 after 54 holes) and T58 in the British Masters after sitting T8 at halfway. The elusive first win remains out of reach, he continues to be something of a nearly man. The stats say the best part of his game this season is his work near the greens. He ranks 23rd for Scrambling, 25th for Sand Saves and 43rd for SG: Around the Greens. He was 2-for-3 in Denmark on the Challenge Tour with two top 20s.

That’s four back from leader Matt Wallace and currently good enough for T4 although the afternoon wave have favorable conditions so the German looks likely to slip a few places down. He made rather slow progress to the turn this morning with just a lone birdie at 6 but eight pars at least gave him a platform. And that’s how it panned out as Kieffer accelerated by splashing red at 10, 11, 13 and 17. The 28-year-old is still to win on the European Tour after 177 starts but has some strong form this season with tied second at the Oman Open and tied fifth at the Maybank Championship in Malaysia.

The German shares his spot with Jazz Janewattananond and Scott Hend, with David Lipsky alone in second on 11-under. He completed a steady round which witnessed par breakers at the first, fourth, fifth and ninth on the way out (one bogey at the eighth), then just the 13th on the way home. It looked as if he would add to that tally at 18, despite finding the trees with his second shot. He had to slide his third around a tree, keeping it low, having no spin from the rough, but he landed it in the correct spot, took advantage of the contours, and left himself 6’0" for birdie. Which he then missed. He is chasing a first ET win having lost a play-off in 2013 and adding a second runner-up finish in the recent Oman Open. Eight times in his ET career he has been top five after 54 holes, the rounds which followed explain the gap on his CV: 71-77-75-76-72-65-74-72.

Kieffer was very much on the radar with gamers this week. He took T11 at Saujana G&CC last year and returned on the back of a second place in Oman backed up by T14 in Qatar. He was a little quiet in an opening 71 but, with scoring conditions tough today, his 67 (third lowest lap in R2) was worth plenty. The German traded a birdie and a bogey-6 over his first five holes but then accelerated around the turn with circles at 8, 9 and 10. He picked off two more birdies at 14 and 18. Kieffer said: “I’m very happy with the way I’m playing. Since I started working with my new coach last year, I’ve been steadily getting better. Just focus on the process, that’s all you can do, and it’s been working for me.”