Interview with Miguel Angel Jimenez
Location: Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort, Murcia, Spain
Date: December 11th 2007
Andy attended the media event last week to celebrate the official opening of the luxurious new clubhouse at the Spanish resort, Hacienda del Alamo. The event was hosted by Chris Mann, Director of Communications for the resort and was attended by journalists from Britain, Ireland and Spain.
Miguel Angel Jimenez was also at the event. Miguel will be attached to the Hacienda del Alamo Club for three years and will endorse the resort during his travels on the world golf scene.
On a sunny but blustery December day, Andy and two other journalists joined Miguel to play the course which from the back tees is currently the longest course in Spain, measuring a touch less than 7,400 yards. The windy weather proved too much for any of the amateurs to get anywhere near handicap but the pleasure of playing with Miguel was a wonderful experience.
A match between the GB&I journalists and their Spanish equivalents took place on day two. It was a titanic battle with all matches being contested all the way to the 18th green. Three matches ended all square and it was Andy’s match, where he partnered Ray Scott from the Waterford Star, which proved to be the decider. This game finished 2-up, therefore giving the GB&I team victory 2½ - 1½.
After the matches, Andy caught up with Miguel for a few words.
Firstly it was congratulations to Miguel for the recent win at the UBS Hong Kong Open – this, not surprisingly, has made Miguel a happy man, moving his world ranking to 37 and thus ensuring his automatic entry to all of the 2008 major events.
Miguel went on to talk about his favourite golf courses; all of which are featured on the Top 100 website. His three – in no particular order – are Carnoustie, Royal Birkdale and Shinnecock Hills. The main qualities of all of these courses for Miguel are that they are very tough but very fair.
It was at Carnoustie in the first two rounds of the 2007 Open Championship that Miguel played with Northern Ireland’s Rory Mcllroy. Miguel agreed with Andy that Rory’s talent is something very special but what is so important to Rory’s success as a professional is that media expectations are not set too highly. The message from Miguel is to let young Rory do what he does best and that’s playing exciting golf and for the press to report on what he achieves and not what is expected of him.
Andy wished Miguel and his family back in Malaga a happy Christmas and best wishes for the golfing year of 2008 and just maybe a win at the Open Championship in July at Royal Birkdale.
