Top 30 players in the Official World Golf Rankings – Miguel A. Jimenez
32 – Miguel A Jimenez
Miguel Angel Jimenez Rodriguez, a professional Spanish golfer, was born on 5th January 1964 in Malaga, Spain. Jimenez is one of the most charismatic, eccentric, yet talented golfers around. He is passionate about cooking, cars, fine wine and his
favorite Havana cigars. Jimenez is also known as the “Mechanic” due to his love for not only driving but repairing high performance vehicles such as his red Ferrari.
Jimenez was inspired by watching the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Sandy Lyle and Sam Torrance when he was caddying at the Open de Espana at Torrequebrada, Malaga in 1979. He started his professional career in 1982 when he was 18 and went through four qualifying
schools in the 1980s. On his first European Tour in 1988, Jimenez had a steady start, and kept on improving his game over the next few seasons. He was rewarded in 1992 at the Piaget Belgian Open, when he claimed his first tour win. In 1994, he finished fifth
on the European Tour Order of Merit.
After a poor show in a few seasons Jimenez came back strongly in 1998 and 1999 by finishing 4th on the Order of Merit and winning 4 tournaments including the prestigious Volvo Masters. He came second in the WGC American Express Championship.
The years 1999 to 2003 depicted a picture of Jimenez’s career, with its ups and downs. The only highlights of those years were when he helped his teams Europe and Spain win the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1999-2000 and the Seve Trophy in 2000.
The year 2004 was very welcoming after some modest seasons. Jimenez had a Ryder cup win for the year and also won 4 European Tour events. He followed up his success through to 2005 by winning the Omega Hong Kong Open and the Celtic Manor Wales Open. He also
won the Spanish Paris final in 2005.
Jimenez had two wins in the 2008 season and he earned a spot in the 2008 Ryder Cup team. He defended his BMW PGA championship title in 2009 when he scored a rare albatross (double eagle) by holing a 206-yard six iron on his second shot on the par five fourth.
He had pulled off this rare feat before at the Volvo Masters in 1994.
Jimenez won the Omega Dubai desert Classic in 2010 beating Lee Westwood in a playoff. He also won the Alstom Open de France that year, following it up by a victory at Omega European Masters, which was his third win of the year. He was also a member of the
winning team of the Ryder Cup in 2010.
During the 2011 British Open, Jimenez found himself in another tricky position, when he was at the road hole, which is one of the toughest holes in golf, and was seemingly loosing hopes of a major. Jimenez had to think out of the box. The ball had rolled
up almost against the wall which runs along the 17th hole.
Without having much room to get his club in behind the ball, he turned his back to the green and hit the ball against the wall. The ball bounced off the wall and landed on the green for an easy birdie.
The shot in some ways shows the persona of the man and his game. He has not sustained his brilliance consistently but when it is on show, it is an act of pure golf genius.
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