Miguel Ángel Jiménez will look to win back-to-back Senior Major Championships this week when he tees off at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship at Harbor Shores.
The Spaniard goes into the Senior Major in America as one of the favourites after he claimed his first Senior Major Championship last week in the Regions Tradition.
The Senior Major triumph will go nicely with his 21 European Tour victories and following his success at Greystone Golf and Country Club. He has now finished seven times in the top four, and eight times within the top eight places at the five Senior Majors.
His maiden Senior Major victory has made his lightning start to life on the over-50s circuit even more astonishing, as he begins to chase down Germany’s Bernhard Langer, who holds the record for most Senior Majors with ten.
However, even at 54 years old Jiménez still feels the nerves on a final round when a Senior Major is at stake, especially last week.
“Obviously last week on the last round I was of course nervous, and I felt the pressure inside,” he said. “I started with bogeying the first, I hit quite a good three wood a little on the edge, but it bounced up there.
“But then I missed the birdie on hole number two. Hole number three, I made a solid par – saved 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. 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.”
Now the two-time Ryder Cup winner will be ready to go one step further than last season’s Senior PGA Championship where he took a share of third.
Jiménez was five shots behind Langer in Washington DC 12 months ago, but knows exactly what will be needed this time around to challenge for the title.
“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,” he said. “Making birdies and making things happen is shot by shot, hole by hole, that's the only way.
“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.”
But for the charismatic Spaniard the joy of continuing his golfing career on the Staysure Tour and challenging for Majors is something which will never be a chore.
“I love to play golf, and this is my 30th year moving around the world and I still enjoy what I'm doing,” he said. “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 gives me everything in my life.”
