PREVIEW-Golf-Kaymer on brink of Ryder Cup debut

By Norman Dabell

CROWLAND, England, Aug 19 (Reuters) - German Martin Kaymer is on the brink of a Ryder Cup debut as he prepares for the Dutch (KLM) Open starting on Thursday.

The 23-year-old from Dusseldorf, twice a winner this season, is only 272 points away from the 10th and final qualifying place for Nick Faldo's Valhalla team with two events left to count.

A 14th place in last week's Scandinavian Masters drew Kaymer up to the absent Soren Hansen's 10th automatic spot.

This week at Kennemer's links at Zandvoort he will try to go past the Dane and the two other players in the firing line in eighth and ninth place on the table, Britons Justin Rose and Oliver Wilson.

Kaymer, in 11th spot, is only 3,312 points behind ninth-placed Wilson. Hansen trails Wilson by just 3,040 points.

"It's getting really tight now for the last few places, but I'm not feeling the pressure," Kaymer told Reuters. "I see it as a challenge and in fact I'm enjoying it."

The German plays the North Sea course for the first time, happy that the hard work on his putting is paying off as he completes the final two laps of his Ryder Cup bid.

"Everything comes down to the putting, especially at match play," he said.