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Hoylake - Martin Kaymer is hoping to ride a wave of German success into the British Open at Hoylake this week, saying that footballers have much in common with golfers when it comes down to performing on the big stage.
The recent US Open winner watched Sunday's Soccer World Cup final with his caddie in a house near the course outside of Liverpool.
Germany's 1-0 triumph over Argentina in Brazil, he said, was the "first moment in my career as an athlete where I was very, very proud to be a German athlete."
The 29-year-old from Dusseldorf, who also won the PGA Championship in 2010, has close ties with several of the German international players and has the occasional game of golf with them when he is in Munich where several play for Bayern.
He said that star striker Thomas Mueller had used his US Open win, which came just as the World Cup was getting underway, as a morale booster for the German squad getting ready for action out in Brazil.
Now he was looking in turn to gain inspiration for a tilt at golf's oldest and most prestigious trophy
"We compare our sports. I think we can learn from each other a lot about how to treat certain situations in the media, the expectations in Germany or worldwide," he said of his relationship with the footballers.
"So I always learn a lot. And fitness-wise we help each other, or at least they help me. Hopefully I can help them, as well, a little bit."
"They were a good, brave, strong team. And they just delivered. And there was nothing about any secrets, just play your game, use the opportunities that you get. Don't make any silly mistakes and wait. That's all you can do.
"And that's the same on the golf tournament. You have a day where you don't play that super good, but you hang in there and you play something around par that doesn't get you out of the tournament.
"Then you wait for that amazing day, that they had against Brazil (7-1 win in the semi-final), and that you need during the golf tournament to win it."
To date, Kaymer has not had that many "amazing days" at the British Open.
In six appearances to date in the third of the year's four majors, he has just the one top 10 finish to his credit, a seventh place at St Andrews in 2010, shortly after his breakthrough US Open win.
He missed the cut at Lytham in 2012 and tied for 32nd at Muirfield last year.
It's a record that confounds the German, and makes him all the more determined to put it right.
"The British Open is a very, very special tournament. You have to play it in a completely different way than you play usually the US Open.
"It's very easy when you win one or two big tournaments to just stop and be happy with that season. But that was my attitude after The Players (won in May), as well.
"I knew I was playing good golf. And I thought we'll see how much I can pick up this year. If I can have another big win and maybe two.
"The Open was probably the major that I always wanted to win in my career.
"I was not really planning on winning the PGA or the US Open. Because for us being European, it would be quite nice to have such big success on your own continent."
