He arrives at the appointment at the time suggested by him (a broad spectrum: between twelve o’clock and one o’clock) after having completed his daily exercise routine at the gym. He orders a sparkling water and a black coffee at the bar and, when we are about to start the interview, the director of the Miguel Ángel Jiménez Golf School asks him for a couple of minutes to discuss some business matters. When he returns, the hot drink has gone cold and the cold one has risen slightly in temperature. Nor has the delay been excessive.
The sun warms the day without modesty and a few irreverent clouds cut its rays from time to time. The driving range and nine holes are teeming with players enjoying their leisure in short sleeves. Two of his brothers are hitting balls and there are two others wandering around the facility.
One of them, the one who lives in the Canary Islands and has a body shop, is the one who taught him the trade of car mechanic when Miguel Angel was a teenager, before golf chiseled his life. Later appears his youngest son, Victor, who will soon resume his classes at the University of Florida, on whose golf team he plays and matures his dreams.
It’s December 27th and, with the heat, it doesn’t feel like Christmas, no. The most interesting golfer in the world, as he was called years ago by the American press, is not comfortable with interviews and asks if there are too many questions. The most interesting golfer in the world, as he was described years ago by the American press, is not comfortable with interviews and asks if there are too many questions. He takes a sip of coffee, another sip from his water bottle. Let’s get started.
-What are your sporting plans for 2018, do you already have your tournament calendar ready?
-It’s going to be like the previous one: I’m going to play 90 percent of the tournaments in America, the Champions Tour, and the rest will be some forays on the European Tour. I still feel like it and I think I have the qualities to keep on fighting to win a tournament.
-Langer, 60 years old, and last season he had seven wins, two second places, three third places, 16 top 10s on the Champions Tour… What’s wrong with this man?
-He is an impressive player. He stays fit and is playing the same as he has for the last forty years. He has absolute control of the game and that’s why he’s there.
-Second in the 2000 US Open, third in the 2001 British Open, fourth in the 2014 Augusta Masters… Did you ever feel you had a major at your fingertips?
-Yes, what happens is that this is golf and we all compete and winning is always difficult in any place and circumstances. In the end, the one who is more focused with the mind is the one who wins.
Spieth, Rahm, Justin Thomas, Matsumaya, Koepka… the young twenty-somethings are coming on strong. Is there less and less room for veterans on the big Tours?
-There is room for the veterans, but it is logical that the youth come in tight because they have learned from all the veterans who are there and have the same qualities.
-Were there so many young people succeeding at that level when you started on the European Tour?
-Maybe not so many people, but there were Severiano Ballesteros, Olazábal, Sergio came out… there have always been some players who have stood out from a very young age, maybe not as many as we have now, but there have always been young players who have stood out, in each generation there has always been someone.
-At the Andalusian Golf Awards ceremony you said that you were the last of the generation of successful Spanish golfers who started out as caddies: Seve, Cañizares, Piñero… Is there a difference between those of you who started out in the world of golf and those who started out as amateurs like Olazábal and those who followed him?
-It was different. We couldn’t play in championships because we couldn’t be amateurs. Caddies were caddies and could play tournaments for aspiring professionals. When you were a player caddie you became an aspiring professional and from there, doing your rounds a year and taking your exams and so on, you became a professional. There was a demand for professionals in Spain, and the professional world was nourished by the caddie because there was nowhere else. At that time golf was very exclusive, elitist or whatever you want to call it – thank goodness it’s not so much anymore, it’s more accessible to people. I was the last of that generation of caddies, and of the new generation of players coming from the amateur world, the first was Olazábal. Nowadays everybody comes from there. That difference that used to exist between players who had purchasing power and those who didn’t is no longer there.
-Was there any discrimination between those who came from the amateur world and those of you who had been caddies, was there classism?
-It made a difference, and that finally ceased to exist.
-This season you will celebrate 30 years on the European Tour. What has changed the most, for better and for worse, in these three decades on the Tour?
-Everything has become much more professional. When I started there were no courtesy cars, there were no balls on the practice tee as there are now, all the infrastructure, official hotels… Now there is an organization chart that makes sure that everything is well organized so that the players only focus on playing and don’t worry about anything else. There is monitoring of the courses, of the greens, they make sure that there is a quality standard for each tournament in all aspects. Over time they have been improving and investing more because they have seen that this is a sport that attracts many people and they see it as a positive thing to be there.
-What has been the most emotional moment of your sporting career?
-All the triumphs are good, all of them. I’m not going to say that one is better than another, although obviously when I won here in the Parador (in Malaga) the Turespaña Masters Open de Andalucia in ’99 it was very exciting because it was two kilometers from where I was born and where I grew up and where all my friends were. That year I won the Volvo Masters in Montecastillo (the only Spaniard to win that tournament), I won in Wentworth… I won my first tournament at the Belgian Open in 1992 playing the last day with Nick Faldo, who was then at the height of his career (he would win his fifth major that year)… There have been many good moments in my career. Some wins have given you more money than others, and that’s normal because some have more prizes than others, but the important thing is that winning makes you feel good and motivates you, and it does so at different stages of your life.
-You have played and/or lived with the greatest golfers in the world, from Jack Nicklaus, to Arnold Palmer or Gary Player, through Tiger Woods or Seve Ballesteros. Who has made the deepest impression on you, both on a sporting and human level?
-Seve and Tiger. With Nicklaus, Player or Palmer, when I have played with them the truth is that they were not at their best, but I have played with Ballesteros and Tiger when they were and they are the ones who have impressed me the most.
-Tiger seems to be ready to make a comeback and he didn’t do too badly in his last recent appearance. Do you think he has a chance to showcase his immense talent again and make a place for himself among the greats?
-I think so. If there is someone who, after what has happened to him, has a chance, it’s him; that’s for sure. All the operations he has had on his knee and his back and then the competition he has, because he has been the mirror in which all the youth coming up right now have been reflected, physically prepared as athletes… The truth is that Tiger has been the repulsive of modern golf. Thanks to him and how he has moved around the world, playing everywhere, golf has been promoted in an impressive way in all aspects. A lot is owed to him, and he is the player who by character and talent is the only one who could come back on top again after all he has had to go through. I saw some images of him in the tournament he played in the Bahamas and the swing he is making and the speed he was giving to the swing shows that his back is fine now, as it was years ago. And let’s hope Tiger comes back because, without detracting from the merit of these players that are coming now, who are very good, impressive, Tiger is Tiger and still makes a difference with respect to the others. The truth is that I don’t like to make comparisons, but Tiger is unique.
-Who has been better: Tiger or Nicklaus?
-I said that I don’t like to compare. They are different times and each one has marked an era, as Severiano did.
-And among the newcomers, who do you think could mark a new era?
-We’ve got Rory, we’ve got Jordan Spieth, who are the ones who are the most likely to go that way, but we’ll see what happens.
-What about Jon Rahm?
-He is just starting right now and he has an outrageous potential, outrageously good. He is now 23 years old, in his first year he has won in both circuits (American and European) and what can we say about him: just keep climbing the ladder as he has done and we will have Jon Rahm for a while and hopefully he will be a player who has the charisma of these great players we are talking about.
-Sergio Garcia’s year has not been bad either….
-Sergio had been knocking on the door of a major for many years and it was his turn. Mickelson won his first at 37 and has now won five.
-Talking about age, you hold the record for the oldest player to win a European Tour tournament at the age of 50 (Open de España 2004). How did you experience that?
-Well. That’s why I say that I still compete in the European Tour some tournaments, not as before, now more quietly, but I still see myself with possibilities and work for it, and the moment I see that I can not compete at a level with a chance of winning on the European Tour, then I’ll say it’s over, I do not play more in this Circuit. That is very clear, and this will come, it is coming slowly, but it is coming.
-And the future of the Jiménez saga in golf, how do you see it with your sons Víctor and Miguel Ángel?
-They are guys who have possibilities, and the important thing is that they are very well focused. In the game of golf, 80 percent is the bogeyman, the head. The rest, if you work well, is patience and perseverance, which is the most important thing.
-Have you ever thought, in a bad moment you’ve had, about hanging up your clubs for good?
-No, not yet. No, because I don’t know how to do anything else in my life and what I do is what I like.
-How are you doing as a field designer?
-Everything is at a standstill. I have a design done in the Czech Republic and I’m working on a project that hasn’t made any progress in the Dominican Republic. If anyone is interested, I’m there, but I’m dedicated to competing and not to looking for where to build a golf course, and that’s probably why I’m a bit disconnected in the sector.
-You like good cars so much, what supercar would you ask the Three Wise Men for?
-None. I have the Ferrari and right now I am with a rental car. I’m hardly ever here (in Malaga), I come from time to time to see my brothers and see how it’s going (their golf school in Torremolinos), I spend the year competing around the world and now I live in Austria (his wife’s country), so it’s not worth having a car to be parked and stationary all day.
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