Martin Kaymer has credited the influence of Padraig Harrington as a major reason for his improvement. Six of the current world's top 10 are European and the last four majors have been won by European Tour members.

"He [Harrington] won two in 2008 - which was an unbelievable achievement - and I think everything started with him," said Kaymer.

German Kaymer opened his major account at last year's US PGA Championship.

That followed Graeme McDowell's US Open win and Louis Oosthuizen's Open Championship triumph, and the run of major successes for European Tour members was maintained by Charl Schwartzel's Masters victory last month.

Amazingly, it was just a few years ago that Charl Schwartzel was still learning the game, and he was one of the first amateurs to use the golf handicap calculator to bring his game into line. How things can change in just a few years!