Kaymer beat American Bubba Watson 1 up in a closely contested semifinal at Dove Mountain’s Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and will face Britain’s Luke Donald in Sunday’s title match.

In-form Donald crushed American Matt Kuchar 6 and 5 on a blustery afternoon in the Arizona desert to give himself a chance of climbing to a career-high third in the rankings.

Kaymer had his hands full against the big-hitting Watson in a fluctuating contest.

The 26-year-old German went one up at the first, trailed by one after eight holes and then built a two-up lead with two to play.

Watson kept the match alive by sinking a six-foot birdie putt at the par-four 17th to trim Kaymer’s advantage to dormie one.

Watson was then bunkered off the tee at the par-4 18th and ended up just short of the green with his approach after his ball spun back off the front edge.

Kaymer, straight down the middle with his drive, struck his second shot through the back of the green before chipping back seven feet past the cup.

Watson hit his third shot to within five feet of the cup before the German coolly rolled in his putt to seal victory.

“The last four or five holes were very up and down,” said Kaymer, who will replace Britain’s Lee Westwood as world No. 1 on Monday.

“It’s very special to be the second German,” he added, referring to his compatriot and former world No. 1 Bernhard Langer.

English world No. 9 Donald charged seven up after 10 holes and held off a brief fightback by Kuchar before sealing victory with his sixth birdie of the match at the par-5 13th.

“I’ve been playing good this week,” Donald said. “I’ve been stringing together a lot of good rounds, making birdies, and not too many mistakes. It’s nice on a long day like this to get done early.”

Earlier, the Englishman had reached the last four for the first time by beating American Ryan Moore 5 and 4. In 27 holes on Saturday, Donald piled up 13 birdies.

“I’ve been tough to beat this week and hopefully that can continue tomorrow,” he said.

Donald, who has not trailed in any of his five matches this week, was in scintillating form against Kuchar.

He birdied five of the first nine holes, sinking a curling 38-foot putt at the par-four ninth, to reach the turn six up.

The American then bogeyed the par-four 10th after driving into a fairway bunker to trail by seven before Donald conceded the 11th hole after pulling his tee shot into the desert waste.

Kuchar also won the par-three 12th, after hitting an exquisite tee shot to just two feet, to cut the deficit to five.

However Donald immediately responded, reaching the green in two at the par-five 13th and knocking in a six-foot birdie putt to book his place in the 18-hole final.
 
Wagner leads Mayakoba Golf Classic

In Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, Johnson Wagner moved into contention for his second PGA Tour title, shooting a 6-under 65 on Saturday for a one-stroke lead over Chris Stroud after the third round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

Wagner, the 2008 Houston Open winner, had a 13-under 200 total on the Greg Norman-designed El Camaleon course on the Caribbean coast.

“It looks like there’s a lot of people on the leaderboard within a few shots, so you can’t be looking at the leaderboard thinking, ‘OK, I’ve got to stay ahead of these people,“’ Wagner said. “I have to go out and make birdies and try to play the same kind of rounds that I’ve played the last two days.” Wagner dropped a stroke on the par-5 fifth, then eagled the par-5 eighth and birdied the ninth. He also birdied Nos. 11-13 and 16.

“We had a rain delay, which helped me quite a bit to calm down and slow down a bit,” Wagner said. “And then I started playing great, chipped in for eagle on eight, hit it close on nine for birdie and just seemed like I had good birdie putt after good birdie putt on the back nine. They all didn’t go in, but a lot of them did.” Stroud, the second-round leader after making eight straight birdies in a 63, followed up with a 70. He had an eagle, a birdie and two bogeys.

Bobby Gates (64), Spencer Levin (67) and Jarrod Lyle (67) were 11 under.

Defending champion Cameron Beckman (65) was 10 under along with Jeff Quinney (65), John Merrick (65), Briny Baird (66) and Sunghoon Kang (69).