MARVELLOUS Miguel
After witnessing the magic of Seve, Jimenez knows the importance of being yourself
It begins with Seve. As far as golf and Spain are concerned, it always does. Anything else would be an insult to the most prodigiously gifted player Europe has ever produced.
Seve’s words could just as easily be used to describe Miguel Angel Jimenez, one of his closest friends and another man who defies so many of golf’s conventions.
Jimenez is a man who doesn’t just dance to his own tune; he’s the guy who composes the music for the guys who dance to their own tune. However, the influence Seve has had on his fellow Spaniard cannot be overstated.
Born into a modest family in Malaga, where his father was a stonemason and his mother a full-time housewife, Jimenez is one of seven brothers.
But, so close was their friendship, Seve might as well have been the eighth.
It can all be traced back to 1979. At 15 years of age, Jimenez had left school and spent time working as a mechanic before doing some odd jobs — caddying, collecting balls on the driving range — at torrequebrada Golf Club, where the Spanish Open was held that year.
It was here that Jimenez first met the man he openly describes as his idol; Seve’s swashbuckling style inspiring the youngster to pursue his own career in the game, though it was put on hold by a year of mandatory military service aged 20.
the 20th anniversary of what was perhaps the crowning moment of their friendship has only just passed. In September 1997, Jimenez was an assistant to Seve as he captained Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup on home soil at Valderrama.
‘It was a beautiful experience to share in our home country,’ reflects Jimenez, for whom the victory was even sweeter as a native Andalusian.
But the path was not straightforward. In a distinctly unusual route, Jimenez was vicecaptain before he had actually played in the event. Fittingly, the two men had done things their own way.
‘the Ryder Cup is an event — totally different to anything else you will ever experience in golf,’ says Jimenez. ‘For me, it is one of the greatest events in any sport in the world.
‘the passion and atmosphere it creates are unbelievable.
‘How you deal with the emotion and the pressure counts for a lot. If you can handle the emotion, you will play well.
‘After being assistant to Seve, I looked at myself in the mirror and said: “Come on, you’ve got to play in this”.
‘that really motivated me to train, to work harder, to practise more and more.’
though Seve had clearly lit a fire within his countryman, Jimenez was not of a mind to try to copy the playing style of his idol. Frankly, there would have been no point.
‘Seve was special,’ says Jimenez. ‘the word I would use to describe him is commitment. He fully committed himself with such intense passion in everything he did in his life.
‘He was maybe the only player I ever saw who could make a birdie on a hole without being anywhere close to the fairway or the green.
‘Off the tee, he could be 50 yards wide — maybe in a tree. He would then be 20 yards wide of the green with his approach. But, from there, the magic happens with the wedge in his hands.
‘If you can imagine the golf course as an animal, Seve was the guy fighting it in a big way — a wrestling match.
‘Everything in Seve’s life was unique; his style of playing the game, his character, the way he spoke with the crowd — just unique.
‘I have never seen anyone else like this. It would be foolish for anyone to try to do what he did because he was completely his own person, a one-off — Seve was Seve.
‘But nobody should try to be him. Whatever you do in life, it is so important to be yourself and not try to copy anyone.’
Whatever Jimenez did, it certainly worked. If Seve owed his career to a stupendous level of natural ability, Jimenez’s has been a triumph of endurance, driven by a constant desire to better himself.
Of his 21 victories on the European tour, 14 of them have come after the age of 40. After breaking his leg in a skiing accident in late 2012, he returned just as strong as ever.
He has twice broken his own record of being the oldest winner on the European tour (it currently stands at 50 years and 133 days) and, at the 2014 Masters at Augusta, also aged 50, he finished in fourth place. His total of ten holes-in-one is also a European tour record.
HE played in the Ryder Cup in 1999, 2004, 2008 and 2010, the latter under Colin Montgomerie at Celtic Manor, before serving as vice-captain to countryman Jose Maria Olazabal in 2012 and to Paul McGinley at Gleneagles in 2014.
Of his time on these shores, Jimenez admits: ‘Gleneagles, Carnoustie, Royal troon, Muirfield, St Andrews — all magnificent courses. I would say Carnoustie is probably my favourite course, not only in Scotland, but in all of the world.
‘I love playing in Scotland because the fans understand the game and are always very respectful. the only thing that concerns me sometimes is the weather! But the golf courses, the people — fantastic.
‘What happened at Medinah was a miracle — there is no other word you can possibly use to describe it,’ he says of the 2012 triumph, which came a year after Seve had lost his battle with cancer.
‘Ian Poulter playing the way he did on the Saturday afternoon was so important to the whole thing. He was just incredible with his putter… I wish I could putt like that every day!
‘that performance on the Saturday afternoon was so important because it created such a strong emotion in the team room. We totally believed we could win.
‘I don’t like to speak too much about things we said in the team room because some of it was very emotional and it will always stay private.
‘Guys saying some really strong, emotional things. We lost Seve and he was still very much on
everyone’s mind. That’s all I can say, you know?’
After marrying Susanna Styblo in 2014, an Austrian lady ten years his junior, 53-year-old Jimenez now splits his time between his home in Vienna, a property in Malaga and playing on the Champions Tour in America.
‘Maybe I’m in the wrong job because I hate flying,’ he laughs. ‘I don’t really know so much about the American lifestyle. I go there and I make my own lifestyle — the same as I do all over the world.
‘I finish my round, I have a shower, I ask the people where is the best restaurant in the area, I go there, eat nice food, drink some red wine and smoke my cigar. ‘This is my way.’ His way, indeed. It doesn’t matter whether Jimenez shoots 65 or 85, his demeanour never changes. And what of the cigars? Cohiba Siglo VI — hand-rolled Cubans that could choke a horse and must be pre-ordered at £32 a pop.
They have become synonymous with this magnificently barrelchested, ponytailed man, as has a large goblet of Rioja, the Saturday night sliders, and the most gloriously unselfconscious warmup routine in sport.
Jimenez makes no secret of the fact he would love the opportunity to captain Europe in the Ryder Cup but, rather sadly, it now seems that the opportunity may not be granted to him.
It seems a shame that a figure who is so ubiquitously popular among his peers and fans will not be afforded the chance to lead them. But he will not allow that to define either himself as a man nor his career as a whole.
Brilliantly flawed and brilliantly authentic, Jimenez simply adds: ‘I am a human. I have my defects, just like anyone else. I like to smoke, so I smoke. I like to drink, so I drink. If people don’t agree, they can look the other way. I have no issue with that.’
Miguel Angel Jimenez was speaking at Las Colinas Golf and Country Club, Europe’s leading Villa Resort, where he has designed the brand new Las Colinas ShortGame Facility.