Kaymer goes on birdie binge to win HSBC Champions

Martin Kaymer was five shots behind and going nowhere Sunday, making nothing but pars when he needed much more to give himself a chance in the HSBC Champions at Shanghai.

From a deep bunker in front of the seventh green, he holed the sand shot for a birdie, and suddenly the game felt easy. Very easy.

That was the start of an amazing finish for Kaymer, who ran off nine birdies over the last 12 holes to blow past Fredrik Jacobson on his way to a 9-under 63 and a three-shot victory at Sheshan International.

It’s a wonder he didn’t birdie them all. He missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the ninth, and failed to birdie the par-5 14th and the 16th hole that plays about 288 yards and can be reached with a 3-wood.

Kaymer wound up setting two World Golf Championship records. It was the largest comeback (five shots) in the final round, and his 63 was the lowest final round by a winner since this series began in 1999.

Kaymer, the PGA champion last year, became the 10th player to have won a major and a WGC event.

Kaymer, who finished at 20-under 268 and earned $1.2 million, moved to second on the European Tour money list and to No. 4 in the world ranking.

Jacobson had a 71 to finish second. Graeme McDowell (67) was third at 16 under, and Charl Schwartzel (65), Paul Casey (67) and Rory McIlroy (69) followed at 15 under. McIlroy moved past Lee Westwood to No. 2 in the world.

Champions Tour

Jay Don Blake won the Charles Schwab Championship at San Francisco for his second victory of the year following a 20-year drought, and Tom Lehman took the season points title and $1 million annuity.

Blake closed with an even-par 71 for a two-stroke victory in the Champions Tour’s season finale. He finished at 8-under 276 at TPC Harding Park.

Mark Calcavecchia (69), Loren Roberts (70), Michael Allen (71) and Jay Haas (71) tied for second.

Lehman shot a 72 to tie for 18th at 2 over, enough to hold off Calcavecchia by 74 points. Calcavecchia needed to finish no worse than a tie for second with one other player to have a chance to overtake Lehman.

LPGA

Japan’s Momoko Ueda won the Mizuno Classic at Shima, Japan, for the second time in five seasons, beating China’s Shanshan Feng with a 15-foot birdie putt on the third hole of playoff.

Ueda, also the 2007 winner in the event sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and Japan LPGA, closed with a 3-under 69 to match Feng at 16 under at Kintetsu Kashikojima. The victory, Ueda’s first since the 2009 AXA Ladies Open, was her second on the LPGA Tour and ninth on the Japan LPGA.

Feng finished with a 65.