Miguel Angel Jiminez - Team Europe

Miguel Angel Jiminez, known as the ‘Mechanic’ to his friends, due to his love of cars, particularly his Ferrari.

He first played on the European Tour in 1988 and improved consistently until finally winning an event, the Belgian Open in 1992. He has been a hot and cold type player. In 1994 he came 5th in the European Tour Order of Merit and bettered this in both 1998 and 1999, when winning four Tournaments, including the Volvo Masters. In 1999 he was runner-up in the WGC American Express Championship and in 2000 was runner-up in the US Open. He made his Ryder Cup debut in 1999.

He had his best performance in the British Open in 2001 tying for third spot and has also played very well over the years at the US Masters in Augusta. He was 10th in 2001, 9th in 2002, 11th in 2006 and was 8th there in this year. HIs best performance this year came in May when he won the European PGA at Wentworth after play-off with Oliver Smith. The win moved Miguel 20 places up the World rankings. To date Miguel has had a total of 15 European Tour wins and has featured in the World’s top twenty players on several occasions. He is currently ranked 21st in the World.

His Two appearances in the Ryder Cup team thus far have not been too good, losing three of the four matches he has played, including both his singles. However Miguel has played very well in other Team events, winning the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1999 and repeating the success a year later. He also won Seve Trophy in 2000. Clearly Miguel is still worth betting on