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VOLVO MASTERS ANDALUCIA

October 27, 2004

Miguel Angel Jimenez

SOTOGRANDE, SPAIN

Q. Can you talk about your final round in Madrid, what went wrong on that day?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: No, I didn't hit it as good as I would like to the rest of the round. Also on the 17th, I missed the green and I finished double-bogey, bogey. And I hit it solid, but put a ball in the bunker on the right. The sand is very thick there. I tried to hit it but on the front was just, I had it just on the slope. And I tried to make perfect (swing); I make good (swing), but not enough speed on the swing, and the ball was there in the bunker. I tried to do the same shot, and now it's a little bit more spin but not enough to get it on the green. And on the 18th, I put the ball in the bunker, along with the wind on my second shot, and then put it in there and I make a very nice one and I make a bogey, I make double-bogey, bogey.

Q. You have a chance to finish second on the Order of Merit this week, what is the biggest improvement in your play from a couple of years ago? What are you doing so much better now?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I don't know. I still hit it very good. I think it's not much different the way I hit the ball. Probably the way I look at myself on the golf course, probably.

Q. How do you look at yourself on the golf course?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Looks perfect.

Q. But your results are so much better, aren't they?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: They are better but probably everything is the way you see yourself. I don't mind to miss a shot. Sometimes when you are practicing, you play and you spend too much time to worry about whether you are going to miss, then you miss more. I just try to take my feeling after the round and have fun with myself, enjoy myself on the golf course; that's when I'm doing my best. Sometimes when you're tired, sometimes you miss small things. And then you get in the mood that you always go at the target, always at the hole and then you stress yourself and then you get further apart from the golf.

Q. Has coming back to Europe helped you?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Probably helped me because my mind is probably a little bit more clear. Before, in the over there, the golf is very nice, but I don't find myself comfortable living around there, you know. The problem is that helps also to look at myself this way.

Q. You won't go to America again?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I will play the majors and important tournaments there. Full-time there, I don't think. So I will play the majors and the World events.

Q. Did you miss home too much, was that part of it, too?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I think sometimes here in Europe, also, you go for two or three weeks and when you go there, you know you have to be there three or four weeks, and I think it's not the same way of living, you know. When you are in New York or when you are in L.A. places, like that, you can play and sometimes you feel much better. But sometimes when you are in middle of the country playing golf and you look and there's nothing there. Probably I will continue to play here, but the only fault is my fault because I don't know where to go and what to do sometimes. It's different, you go to New York, it's much better because it's life there. The rest is not that much. It's different, not the way I like to feel around there. And family-wise also, I'm 40, I have my kids and I want them to be around the Spanish culture and things. So there's lots of reasons why I don't go there full-time.

Q. But you had shown that by playing in Europe you can still get high in the World Rankings.

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: You get high because you play better. Now you feel comfortable. You feel good with yourself; you hit good shots and then you make good strokes and then you go higher in the rankings.

In fact, I have the same aptitude to play on both sides, never in my mind, you know and that is the worst thing because then you have to compete. It's the problem is when you go off and then you have to play physically, 15 on one side and then 15 the other and then it's difficult.

Q. After this year, do you have a goal for next year? Do you have a goal after playing so well this year?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: A goal?

Q. A target?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Try to do my best. I try to have success like I did this year. This is my goal. Of course, I would like to keep it in the same form and try to be competitive for the majors. I would like to. But I tell you, no, I want to just concentrate at the moment and leave it and I try to do my best.

Q. You've won the Volvo Masters at Montecastillo?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: '99.

Q. Would you consider it a bigger achievement to win it here at Valderrama?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Montecastillo is great, and to win it here it would be great. I don't want to compare. Any victory is important like this. It shows you that you win at that moment. I would like to win this tournament this year because it would be my fifth tournament and it is the final and it would be great. This golf course is set up very nice. I don't want to compare this one with the other one because it's just different moment, different time and for me, if I win here it would be good.

Q. And being part of the Ryder Cup and winning the Ryder Cup, how much has that helped to develop your game and your confidence?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: Well, it helps to keep going. The confidence is already there. Now I am playing well and the thing is, the year is not only about one moment. You are there on the Ryder Cup because you all through the year played very, very well and finished inside the Top 10 and then you get on the team. Because first if you don't get there, you cannot play and you do not have that moment.

Q. Did you always think you could be a world Top 20 player or you surprised yourself?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I've been before there.

Q. But at your age.

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: You know, everything is working better now, the new materials and balls and everything helps to keep longer on the Tour. How do I explain; I don't know how long I am going to keep going like that. But I will enjoy myself being in this position.

Q. Do you go to the gym?

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ: I am allergic to the gym.

In the winter I go and do a little bit, cardiovascular things. I don't want to be (indicating muscles). Just some legs and abdominals and cardiovascular, spinning. No heavy weights, no.

End of FastScripts.

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