Miguel Ángel Jiménez (born January 5, 1964) is a
Spanish professional golfer. He is known as "The
Mechanic" for his preference for repairing, rather
than driving, high performance vehicles, especially
his gleaming red Ferrari.
Jiménez first played on the European Tour in 1988
and improved steadily over the next few seasons. His
first win on the tour came at the Piaget Belgian
Open in 1992. During a fairly up and down career he
has so far had three main periods of success. In
1994 he finished fifth on the European Tour Order of
Merit. After some weaker seasons he bounced back in
1998 and 1999, finishing fourth on the Order of
Merit in consecutive years and winning four
tournaments including the prestigious Volvo Masters.
In 1999 he also came second in the WGC-American
Express Championship, which is one of the elite
World Golf Championships events, and made his Ryder
Cup debut.
In 2004 he once again bounced back from some modest
seasons, notching up another fourth place finish on
the Order of Merit, and winning four European Tour
events, which was more than any other player. He
maintained his form into 2005, winning the Omega
Hong Kong Open, which is a European Tour event, and
the Celtic Manor Wales Open. He has featured in the
top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings. Jiménez
has had great success in team events representing
Europe and Spain, winning the Alfred Dunhill Cup in
1999 and 2000, The Seve Trophy in 2000 and the Ryder
Cup in 2004.
