Here's why Martin Kaymer has a sunflower on his golf bag, hat and towel
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Here’s why Martin Kaymer has a sunflower on his golf bag, hat and towel

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Martin Kaymer has been in contention to win several golf tournaments in 2020, and that's meant the two-time major winner has been getting a lot of time on TV.

Golf fans may have noticed that Martin Kaymer has a sunflower on his golf bag, the back of his hat and on his golf towel and wondered why.

Martin Kaymer has a sunflower on so much of his golf gear because it's in honor of his mother, Rina, who passed away in 2008 from complications related to skin cancer. The sunflower was her favorite flower.

Rina Kaymer was first hospitalized in 2006, and Kaymer soon won his first European Challenge Tour event with his brother on his bag as caddie.

Two years later, with his mother facing mounting problems, Kaymer overcame a final-round meltdown to win the BMW International Open in his native Germany in a playoff. He dedicated the win to his mom on TV. Two weeks later, she passed away.

In 2014, Kaymer won The Players Championship just a month before winning the US Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in dominating fashion.

Saying he thinks about her every day, Kaymer revealed why he keeps the sunflower on his bag and close to him.

“We show our parents way too little, way too less," he said. "We always need some occasions to show them, which is what you realize when they're not there anymore.”

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is currently a +2.6 USGA handicap, and he has covered dozens of major championships and professional golf tournaments. He likes writing about golf and making it more accessible by answering the complex questions fans have about the pro game or who want to understand how to play golf better.

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