A British Open win by Miguel Angel Jimenez could set golf back by 20 years.
Not because the Spaniard would be the oldest player to win a major championship – but because his fitness routine is so old school it involves little more than wine, cigars and a bizarre stretching routine.
The 49-year-old walked off Muirfield late on Friday afternoon at three-under-par 139, leading the Open by one stroke. Asked whether he was feeling any additional pressure after a distinguished 31-year professional career, he smiled.
“You don’t need to change anything. Just don’t think about it. As soon as I finish here and I leave the golf course, I’m just going to stay with my girlfriend, with my sons, and we’re going to have a dinner – like I do every day.
“Don’t need to do anything special. I’m leading – now I have to go to bed at 10 o’clock?
“(I’ll go to sleep) when I feel like it. And especially after I smoke my cigar.”
More than a few rivals would have headed straight for the driving range for plenty of additional work. Jimenez planned nothing tougher than hitting a few balls with his coach looking on. He’ll do the same on Saturday morning, followed by a pre-round stretch that has to be seen to be appreciated.
“I’ll actually arrive early to the course to watch it,” Phil Mickelson said.
“He’s one of those guys I like to … watch and just kind of watch him move, you know, to see how he rolls.”
Jimenez usually begins with a cigar between his lips and a bushy mane pulled back into a ponytail tucked beneath his cap. First, he leans on a club and hunkers down for a few seconds. Next, he puts his knees together and rotates his hips for a few seconds more, clockwise and then counter-clockwise, as his ample gut sways side to side in rhythm. Next, he grabs two clubs and twirls them together, first with his right hand and then his left.
Lastly, Jimenez sticks the head of an iron beneath the sole of each shoe, one at a time, and extends his leg like a man about to stick his toe into a pool.
Such little conditioning has unleashed scintillating golf in the first two rounds – Jimenez followed up a nervy 68 on Thursday with an even-par 71 in faster, firmer conditions.
At Jimenez’s age, the definition of pressure – “anything that is important to you” – dovetails nicely with his definition of fun.
“Sometimes you can see me serious because of a situation, but having fun don’t mean that you are falling on the ground and start laughing.
“Having fun is doing what you like to do in your life,” Jimenez said finally. “And I do it.”
Now he only has to do it for two more days.