Martin Kaymer focused on strong end to 2017 at the Czech Masters

Martin Kaymer is putting thoughts about Ryder Cup qualification to one side as he targets a strong finish to the European Tour season.

The start of the race to automatically qualify for Thomas Bjorn's 2018 Ryder Cup begins this week at the D+D Real Czech Masters, where Kaymer makes his tournament debut.

Kaymer has battled a shoulder injury in recent months and was forced to skip the PGA Championship, although returned to action with a tied-31st at last week's Made In Denmark.

The four-time Ryder Cup player is without a worldwide win since his 2014 US Open victory and currently lies 40th in the Race to Dubai standings, but believes a few small tweaks in his game can help him get back on track.

"My focus is not the Ryder Cup team, it's more about trying to get somewhere in the top 15, top 10 in the Race to Dubai," Kaymer said on Tuesday. "That would be great, and then the Ryder Cup.

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"Obviously since I played the very first time, you always want to be part of it, especially when it is in Europe, it is one of the greatest events that we have in our job.

"I had four weeks off before the tournament last week and I've heard a lot of good things about the event here. I think I need to work a little bit on the short game.

"I was hitting a lot of fairways and greens last week but I think on the greens I need to make a few adjustments here and there, but that could be a very quick and easy fix."

The German tees off alongside 2016 Ryder Cup team-mates Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Pieters for the first two rounds, while former world No 1 Lee Westwood plays with Jamie Donaldson and defending champion Paul Peterson.

"It's always nice to get off to a good start when the Ryder Cup qualifying starts," Westwood said. "I will be trying to do that this week and over the next couple of weeks.

"Everything is pretty good. I was down in Portugal so I played a little bit of golf, so not as rusty as I might have been normally after a couple of weeks off, so quite hopeful for this week."

Watch the D+D Real Czech Masters live throughout the week on Sky Sports Golf. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 10am.