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KITCHENAID SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 23, 2018Miguel Angel JimenezBenton Harbor, Michigan JOHN DEVER: We would like to welcome Miguel Angel Jimenez to the interview room here at the 79th Senior PGA Championship Presented By KitchenAid. Sir, thank you for visiting us here in southwest Michigan and congratulations on your win just this past weekend at the Regions Tradition, the first Major Championship of your senior career. Is that one that's going to remain in the memory banks for a long time? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Well, of course. I have been going around the world for 30 years already and then the majors are coming and it was great last week, the golf course and that field there was very nice. JOHN DEVER: So I guess that begs the question, the unique nature of the PGA TOUR Champions, back-to-back majors, have you ever won twice in two weeks anywhere around the world during your long career, can you do it here again and have you ever won twice in as many tries? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I don't remember doing that yet. THE MODERATOR: Yet. I like that. MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I'm playing well and I'm hitting it good and this field is going to be the a bit stronger field because you got a full field with 154 players? JOHN DEVER: 156. MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Oh, 156 players. And, but it's one of the championships to win the major on and I hope I can do it back-to-back. JOHN DEVER: Let's see what happens. MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: See what happens. Yeah. JOHN DEVER: Question, please. Q. Along that line, how challenging, how demanding is it to have a moment like you had on Sunday and then just four days later have to get everything together and tee it up again for another major? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Yeah, well it's, I played yesterday and I've been hitting it good and I've been practicing and I just fixed the things -- obviously when you win a tournament it looks like, especially when you win a major, it's like a little bit too much moving around. But I've been hitting it good and I played very solid last week, I feel very confident and I feel the same this week. That was a different course, different venue, but I feel good. Q. Players here in the past have talked about the importance of finding the right quadrant on the greens because they're so -- MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: The what? Q. The quadrants on the greens, hitting the right spot on the greens with your approach shot because they're so big. Have you had a chance to see much of the course and can you speak to that? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I saw the golf course yesterday and it's a nice layout, it's a massive distance from greens to tees. And the greens, we're going to get sick here there's so many humps and things on the middle of the greens that you need to be below. It's nice. It's a nice design, but it's all over the place and you need to be on the right platform and below the hole, because you're going to have always curving putts, downhill, and things that are going to make it tough to 2-putt sometimes. You need to be in the right place, you need to be very, very precise with your iron shots to the green. Q. Prior to last week your record in senior majors was quite something. You have seven finishes inside the top-4. Does the win last week take the pressure off when you go into senior majors or is it making you more determined? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Well I think so. I hope that it's going to take the pressure off. I never feel it -- seven times you say? Q. Seven inside the Top-4, eight inside the Top-8? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Oh, my goodness, well it's time to, isn't it? To have one in the pocket. Yeah, probably, yeah, it looks like it's never going to happen, obviously last week on the last round I was of course nervous and I feel the pressure inside. I start with bogeying the first, I hit quite a good 3-wood a little on the edge, but it bounces up there. But, you know, and then I miss the birdie on the hole No. 2. Hole number 3, I make a solid par. Save a good par there. Then I said okay, just breathe. Breathe. Don't let it get to you. It doesn't matter, you are human, let everything come to you, keep playing, keep enjoying yourself, that's the only way. And I started making some birdies and then it was a very nice match until then. But I hope that it's not going to add more pressure. That's not that bad anyway, you know? You are there, it means that you are in good shape. Q. To win this weekend what is the bottom line thing you've seen on this golf course so far? You mentioned putting. Anything else? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Well you need to have good putting. I say also that you need to be very, very precise with your iron shots. Obviously you need to be in the fairway. Making birdies and making things happen is shot by shot, hole by hole, that's the only way. The fairways, they are nice fairways, they are a little generous, that's good. Then you need to be -- essentially you need to hit good shots to the green. Because you're going to have a lot of putts that you are not in the right place on the green and then you need to combat everything. You need to hit good shots, especially good shots to the greens and then to be on the right side of the green. It's basic. Q. Light a big cigar at the end of Sunday do you think? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I'm going to have a big cigar as soon as I finish here, I'm going to have a big cigar after I finish every round, like always. (Laughter.) Q. Two questions. Yesterday in Europe Thomas Bjorn named four vice captains, Donald, Harrington, McDowell and Westwood. First question is, that's a pretty big dream team on a right there, those four guys. You played with all of them before. Can you talk about how much you think they bring to Thomas' team? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Yeah, I think that they are going to be a very nice team. Thomas has a lot of people with experience and that's very, very nice. And they can bring a lot of things to the team. The experience they have, all of them, Westwood, Donald, all these guys, the experience they have, it's amazing. It's going to contribute for sure to the team. Any help is always good in these matters. Q. I think your first Ryder Cup might have been 1999 at the Country Club. Can you just talk, you talked about the pressures of the final round last week, can you just talk about what it was like when you teed it up your first time in a Ryder Cup? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: (Raises hair on back of his neck.) I remember very well that time, 1999 in Boston. It was amazing. The experience you have in the Ryder Cup is something that you don't feel in any tournament in the world. It's different. It's the Ryder Cup. You cannot describe it. But the moment you are walking there and the people, you start feeling when you go to the first tee, the first time you're going to play and you can see the faces of the people, all pointing to you, and things, you start feeling how much weight you have on your shoulders. That's the dream. I still dream about it, but the hair is going like this (Indicating). Q. You had more hair than most. MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Well, I start losing some there, you know. I saw some pictures last weekend without the hat and I see that -- next question. (Laughter.) JOHN DEVER: One more question here. Your career's been amazingly consistent. I think a lot of people talk about the cigars, the stretching and some of the stuff around your game, but you've had a consistent career and you've had a consistent career on this tour winning at least once every year. What's your secret there? MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Just what I do in my life. That's the main thing. I love to play golf and this is my 30th year moving around the world and I still enjoy what I'm doing. To me it's not only my way to make my living, it's a way of life. To me golf is everything. I give my life to golf, golf give me everything in my life. Think I love what I do in my life, obviously. That's the key. We are human, so I smoke and I like a glass of wine, I like things. I also exercise because I know it's good for me and I am never lazy to do anything that is to improve myself to play golf. That's the thing. JOHN DEVER: All right, sir, Miguel Angel Jimenez, thank you, sir for being with us and have a good week. MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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