Shane O'Donoghue and Martin Kaymer
World number one Martin Kaymer has told CNN's Living Golf The Masters is just "another tournament" ahead of the golfing year's first major getting underway on April 7.
Kaymer, 26, has played in the event at the Augusta National course for the last three years, but the German has failed to make the cut on all three occasions.
"We have four big tournaments every year," the Duesseldorf native said. "Probably, media wise, the Masters is the biggest.
"A lot of players prepare themselves so much for the Masters, I can understand that but you can talk too much. It is just a tournament. It is a big one and the history of it is huge, but at the end of it, it is just a tournament," he said.
The 2010 PGA Championship winner admitted to struggling previously at this time of year but added he had made adjustments to improve his preparations for the 2011 tournament in Georgia.
A lot of players prepare themselves so much for the Masters...it is just a tournament
"When I came to the Masters I never played my best golf. I was never at my peak performance and the biggest problem I had, I struggled with the short game. I think it was always my worst time of the year, between March and May.
"I'm not playing the week before like I did the last three years. I'm giving myself more time off, to prepare a little bit different. I don't know how it's going to work this year, but hopefully I can play on the Saturday and Sunday [of The Masters]."
Kaymer overtook Lee Westwood at the summit of world golf in February, after the Briton had ended Tiger Woods' 281-week reign at the top of the rankings in November 2010.
Woods, 35, is a 14-time major winner, but the American has failed to win a tournament since personal problems caused him to take a four-month break from golf between December 2009 and April 2010.
But rather than revel in Woods' lack of recent success, Kaymer said he hoped the current world number five could return to the peak of his powers.
"I believe Tiger is the best player that ever played the game, and you would like to challenge him when he is playing his best golf. In the shape that I'm in now I would like to play against him in the way he played [in 2000].
"I hope that he gets back to where he used to be because you want to play against the best player in the world. You want to see, 'How good am I really?' You always learn something and try to improve something that he does better than you."
Competition for the number one spot in the rankings is fierce and four European golfers occupy the sport's top four for the first time since 1992.
Kaymer knows that if he is to retain his lofty berth, he will have to see off the challenge of multiple competitors.
"I really don't know how long I can stay number one. At the moment it is so tight. There's Graeme McDowell, you have Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, (Phil) Mickelson and Tiger. No one really running away, so it can change every month I believe.
"To be in the mix, to challenge them, to try and compare yourself with them and to see how good you are. It is a great challenge."
Shane O'Donoghue ©
