Miguel-Angel Jimenez, like the vintage wine he so adores, seems to simply get better with age and the young guns of the European Tour found themselves trailing the 46-year-old maestro again on Friday.
His 10-under-par 61, capped with two eagles, broke the course record on the switchback fairways of Crans-sur-Sierre and set up a mouth-watering weekend head-to-head with his Ryder Cup teammate, the bang in-form Italian Edoardo Molinari. Jimenez, who has bagged a place in next month’s European team for the fourth time, could even have broken the magical 60 barrier had he managed to add a couple more birdies to his six in the final three holes.
If the Spaniard is in the twilight of his career, clearly no one has remembered to tell the man himself who continues to carve his own jaunty trail on the European Tour with an ever-ready smile for the crowds, graying mustache and pony-tail.
PHOTO: REUTERS
To underline that Jimenez harks from a more carefree golfing era, he sparked up as usual with a huge Cuban cigar following a memorable round even by his astonishingly consistent standards.
“I was definitely thinking about the 59,” Jimenez, puffing away on that fat cigar, told reporters afterwards. “It was a beautiful day and a beautiful score. Tonight I shall enjoy a beautiful bottle of rioja, the same sort as I enjoyed last night.”
So much for the early nights and harsh fitness regimes favored by the thrusting young wannabes he faces week in week out among the game’s elite.
Molinari is playing the game with almost indecent ease following his victory under the gun for his Ryder Cup place at Gleneagles in the Johnnie Walker Championship last weekend. The Italiani had set an 11-under target in the morning with a round of 65. His total was later matched by 17-year-old Italian compatriot Matteo Manessero, the first round leader, who posted a 67 to also lie second.
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