One of golf’s most seductive traits is its ability to throw up the unexpected. Human nature means that we rarely predict the unpredictable, no matter how many times we are shocked by the live theatre of professional sport - allowing most observers to feel that unique sense of surprised confusion every time the unexpected occurs before us.
In 2003, the great game of golf threw up one of the most unbelievable tales in its illustrious history. No one expected the unheralded Ben Curtis to capture the 132nd Open Golf Championship at Royal St George’s, but the image will live long in the memories of golf fans from all corners of the globe who watched the American lift the Claret Jug on the south east coast of England.
By the same token, those who were there to bear witness to Miguel Angel Jiménez’s victory in the inaugural Turespaña Mallorca Classic, the third dual ranking event between The European Tour and the Challenge Tour in 2003, left the delightful Pula Golf Club with that same mixture of excitement and confusion that leaves its mark on the mind of any sports fan when events take an unforeseen turn.
The spectators had been frustrated by the lightning and rain storms that engulfed Mallorca, reducing the tournament to 54 holes, but they were to be equally stimulated by the events on the testing 6,568 yard course that led to the tournament’s thrilling climax.
Even Jiménez himself was startled. Like Curtis on the last day in Kent, the Spaniard posted a clubhouse total, that was eventually to prove the winning aggregate, long before the tournament was over.
Jiménez started the final round on one under par 139 in a tie for 25th place, five strokes behind leader David Park, of Wales, who was playing alongside Ireland’s Damien McGrane, and the man who would finally provide that element of surprise, José Maria Olazábal.
Olazábal, twice a winner of the Masters Tournament, picked up three birdies in his first 11 holes to move to eight under par and into what looked like a comfortable lead. But, just as Jiménez appeared in the clubhouse showered and changed in preparation to receive second prize for his six under par total of 204, the unexpected happened.
Olazábal put his tee shot out of bounds on the 17th and made double bogey six, dropping him back level with Jiménez with the tough 203 yard par three, 18th to play. He found the putting surface at the last, but an awkward position meant he had to chip instead of putt the ball over the undulating green, leaving himself a tricky 12 foot par effort back towards the hole. He knew he had to hole to force a play-off with his compatriot, but could only watch the ball slide agonisingly wide of the cup.
So Jiménez collected the trophy and his seventh European Tour International Schedule victory in his 350th Tour event. His last victory had come in the 1999 Volvo Masters Andalucia, and he was as delighted as he was surprised to take the plaudits again.
“I’m obviously very happy to have won,” he said after the biggest final round comeback by any of the champions on The 2003 European Tour. “But it was a surprise to me. I had finished my round and had gotten changed because José Maria, eight under at one point, had been solid all week.
“But, after I had changed, the Tournament Director told me of the situation and I went to get ready for a play-off. I thought there would at least be a play-off, but that is golf for you - you never know what to expect.”
Indeed.
Jiménez had gone out for the final round and was rewarded for his strategic aggression. The 39 year old from Malaga picked up final round birdies at the par four fifth and seventh holes on his way to the turn in 33, before four birdies in six holes - between the 11th and 16th - rendered his solitary bogey on the 17th insignificant to his ultimately successful quest for first place.
For Olazábal, there was obvious disappointment, but the 37 year old Spaniard was heartened by his superb play throughout the week and the collection of valuable Ryder Cup points. For the watching galleries, however, it was another sporting moment when the unexpected took place, leaving an indelible mark on a highly successful week.
Michael Gibbons
