Miguel Ángel Jiménez

Miguel Ángel Jiménez Rodríguez (born 5 January 1964) is a Spanish professional golfer. He has won 21 times on the European Tour and has been a member of two victorious Ryder Cup teams.

Born in Málaga in southern Spain, Jiménez first played on the European Tour in 1988 and improved steadily over the next few seasons. His first win on the tour came at the Piaget Belgian Open in 1992. During a fairly up and down career, he has so far had four main periods of success. He has finished inside the top 100 on the European Tour Order of Merit every season since 1989. In 1994 he finished fifth on the European Tour Order of Merit. One highlight was scoring an exceptionally rare albatross (double eagle) on the 17th hole at Valderrama, during the 1994 Volvo Masters, sinking his second shot on the par-5 hole with a 3-iron.

After some weaker seasons he bounced back in 1998 and 1999, finishing fourth on the Order of Merit in consecutive years and winning four tournaments including the prestigious Volvo Masters. In 1999 he also came second in the WGC-American Express Championship, which is one of the elite World Golf Championships events, and made his Ryder Cup debut.

In 2004 he once again bounced back from some modest seasons, notching up another fourth-place finish on the Order of Merit, and winning four European Tour events, which was more than any other player. He maintained his form into 2005, winning the Omega Hong Kong Open, which is a European Tour event, and the Celtic Manor Wales Open. He has featured in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings. Jiménez has had great success in team events representing Europe and Spain, winning the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1999 and 2000, the Seve Trophy in 2000 and the Ryder Cup in 2004 and 2010.

In 2005 he won the Spanish Pairs final, with Andrés Jiménez at La Cala Resort in Andalucia, Spain.

2008 proved to be another good season with two wins, including the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, in which he beat Oliver Wilson in a play-off. His form earned Jiménez a spot on the 2008 Ryder Cup team. He finished the season ranked fourth on the Order of Merit once more.

While defending his BMW PGA Championship title in 2009, Jiménez scored a rare albatross (double eagle) by holing a 206-yard (188 m) six-iron on his second shot on the par-five fourth. It was the second such feat of his competitive career.

In February 2010, Jiménez won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, beating Lee Westwood in a playoff and in July added the Alstom Open de France, beating Alejandro Cañizares and Francesco Molinari on the first hole of a playoff. He won his third event of the year at the Omega European Masters, finishing three strokes ahead of Edoardo Molinari

Jiménez was named as Europe's fourth assistant captain for the Ryder Cup in 2012. Later in 2012 he won his 19th European Tour event at the UBS Hong Kong Open, and in doing so became the oldest ever winner on the European Tour.

While skiing in southern Spain on 29 December 2012, Jiménez fell and suffered a right tibial plateau fracture, which required surgery and kept him out of competition for several months. He played in the Open de España in April 2013 but missed the cut and returned to the European Tour in late May. In July, Jiménez was the 36-hole leader at The Open Championship. Later that summer, he lost a playoff to Joost Luiten at the KLM Open. In December 2013 Jiménez retained his Hong Kong Open title and broke his own record as the European Tour's oldest winner.

On 18 April 2014, Jiménez made his Champions Tour debut by shooting a course record 65 at the Greater Gwinnett Championship. Jiménez went on to win the tournament by two shots over Bernhard Langer.

Exactly one month later, Jiménez again extended his record as the oldest champion on the European Tour, securing his first triumph in the Open de España in his 27th time playing the event. Jiménez's up-and-down par on the first playoff hole defeated Richard Green and Thomas Pieters. The win was Jiménez's 14th since turning 40 and tied him for 10th all-time among golfers with the most European Tour victories.

In January 2015, Jiménez won his second Champions Tour event at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

On 23 May 2015, Jiménez aced the par-3 second hole during the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club, his tenth hole-in-one on the European Tour, which broke the record he jointly held with Colin Montgomerie. The ace was Jiménez's third of the season. He went on to finish joint second in the tournament.

In April 2016, Jiménez won for the third time on the Champions Tour, with a two-stroke victory at the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic over Scott Dunlap.

Jiménez is known as "The Mechanic" for his preference for driving, rather than repairing, high-performance vehicles, especially his red Ferrari.

After the winner's press conference following the 2014 Open de España, Jiménez was asked the secret of his longevity. He stated, "There is no secret. Good food, good wine, good cigars and some exercise!"

European Tour wins (21)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	27 Sep 1992	Piaget Belgian Open	71-70-64-69=274	−10	3 strokes	Barry Lane
2	24 Jul 1994	Heineken Dutch Open	65-68-67-70=270	−18	2 strokes	Howard Clark
3	10 May 1998	Turespana Masters Open Baleares	69-68-70-72=279	−9	2 strokes	Miguel Ángel Martín
4	20 Sep 1998	Trophée Lancôme	67-70-67-69=273	−11	2 strokes	David Duval, Mark O'Meara, Jarmo Sandelin, Greg Turner
5	14 Mar 1999	Turespana Masters - Open Andalucia	69-66-62-67=264	−24	4 strokes	Steve Webster
6	31 Oct 1999	Volvo Masters	68-67-69-65=269	−19	2 strokes	Retief Goosen, Pádraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer
7	19 Oct 2003	Turespana Mallorca Classic	72-67-65=204	−9	1 stroke	José María Olazábal
8	1 Feb 2004	Johnnie Walker Classic1	70-66-67-68=271	−17	2 strokes	Thomas Bjørn, Jyoti Randhawa
9	4 Apr 2004	Algarve Open de Portugal	69-66-70-67=272	−16	2 strokes	Terry Price
10	16 May 2004	BMW Asian Open1	71-66-70-67=274	−14	3 strokes	Simon Dyson
11	29 Aug 2004	BMW International Open	68-66-67-66=267	−21	2 strokes	Thomas Levet
12	5 Dec 2004 (2005 season)	Omega Hong Kong Open1	65-64-71-66=266	−14	1 stroke	Pádraig Harrington, James Kingston
13	5 Jun 2005	Celtic Manor Wales Open	63-67-70-62=262	−14	4 strokes	Martin Erlandsson, José Manuel Lara
14	18 Nov 2007 (2008 season)	UBS Hong Kong Open1(2)	65-67-66-67=265	−15	1 stroke	K.J. Choi, Robert Karlsson, Thongchai Jaidee
15	25 May 2008	BMW PGA Championship	70-67-72-68=277	−11	Playoff	Oliver Wilson
16	7 Feb 2010	Omega Dubai Desert Classic	70-67-68-72=277	−11	Playoff	Lee Westwood
17	4 Jul 2010	Alstom Open de France	71-69-66-67=273	−11	Playoff	Alejandro Cañizares, Francesco Molinari
18	5 Sep 2010	Omega European Masters1	67-61-68-67=263	−21	3 strokes	Edoardo Molinari
19	18 Nov 2012	UBS Hong Kong Open1(3)	65-67-68-65=265	−15	1 stroke	Fredrik Andersson Hed
20	8 Dec 2013 (2014 season)	Hong Kong Open1(4)	70-67-65-66=268	−12	Playoff	Stuart Manley, Prom Meesawat
21	18 May 2014	Open de España	69-73-69-73=284	−4	Playoff	Richard Green, Thomas Pieters

¹ Co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour

European Tour playoff record (5–3)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent(s)	Result
1	1994	Honda Open	Robert Allenby	Lost to par on third extra hole
2	1999	WGC-American Express Championship	Tiger Woods	Lost to birdie on first extra hole
3	2008	BMW PGA Championship	Oliver Wilson	Won with birdie on second extra hole
4	2010	Omega Dubai Desert Classic	Lee Westwood	Won with par on third extra hole
5	2010	Alstom Open de France	Alejandro Cañizares, Francesco Molinari	Won with par on first extra hole
6	2013	KLM Open	Joost Luiten	Lost to par on first extra hole
7	2013	Hong Kong Open	Stuart Manley, Prom Meesawat	Won with birdie on first extra hole
8	2014	Open de España	Richard Green, Thomas Pieters	Won with par on first extra hole

Asian Tour wins (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	1 Feb 2004	Johnnie Walker Classic1	70-66-67-68=271	−17	2 strokes	Thomas Bjørn, Jyoti Randhawa
2	16 May 2004	BMW Asian Open1	71-66-70-67=274	−14	3 strokes	Simon Dyson
3	5 Dec 2004	Omega Hong Kong Open1	65-64-71-66=266	−14	1 stroke	Pádraig Harrington, James Kingston
4	18 Nov 2007	UBS Hong Kong Open1(2)	65-67-66-67=265	−15	1 stroke	K.J. Choi, Robert Karlsson, Thongchai Jaidee
5	5 Sep 2010	Omega European Masters1	67-61-68-67=263	−21	3 strokes	Edoardo Molinari
6	18 Nov 2012	UBS Hong Kong Open1(3)	65-67-68-65=265	−15	1 stroke	Fredrik Andersson Hed
7	8 Dec 2013	Hong Kong Open1(4)	70-67-65-66=268	−12	Playoff	Prom Meesawat, Stuart Manley

¹ Co-sanctioned with the European Tour

PGA Tour Champions wins (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	To par	Margin of victory	Runner-up
1	20 Apr 2014	Greater Gwinnett Championship	65-70-67=202	−14	2 strokes	Bernhard Langer
2	25 Jan 2015	Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai	69-64-66=199	−17	1 stroke	Mark O'Meara
3	3 Apr 2016	Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic	68-70-64=202	−14	2 strokes	Scott Dunlap
4	2 Apr 2017	Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic (2)	67-66-70=203	−13	Playoff	Gene Sauers

PGA Tour Champions playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponent	Result
1	2017	Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic	Gene Sauers	Won with birdie on first extra hole

Other wins (3)

• 1988 Open de l'Informatique (France)
• 1989 Benson & Hedges Trophy (with Xonia Wunach-Ruiz)
• 1999 Oki Telepizza – Olivia Nova (Spain)

DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
DQ = Disqualified
"T" = tied
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

• Most consecutive cuts made – 6 (1999 PGA – 2001 Masters)
• Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (twice)

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

¹Cancelled due to 9/11
DNP = Did not play
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Yellow background for top-10.
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Results are not in chronological order before 2017.

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10.

• Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Spain): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 (winners), 2000 (winners)
• World Cup (representing Spain): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2013
• Ryder Cup (representing Europe): 1999, 2004 (winners), 2008, 2010 (winners)
• Seve Trophy (representing Continental Europe): 2000 (winners), 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 (winners)
• Royal Trophy (representing Europe): 2012
• EurAsia Cup (representing Europe): 2014 (playing captain)