U.S. Open: ‘The Mechanic’ to Tee Off With Spanish Comrades

THE THURSDAY AND FRIDAY groupings for next week’s U.S. Open are out. Miguel Angel Jimenez, nicknamed “The Mechanic” because of his interest in tinkering with sports cars (notably his red Ferrari), will tour Congressional Country Club with fellow Spanish pros Sergio Garcia and Alvaro Quiros. The trio representing golf in Spain will go off at 1:24 p.m. on Thursday and 7:44 a.m. on Friday.

(Note: There’s also an all-Italian grouping of Francesco Molinari, Matteo Manassero, and Edoardo Molinari that follows directly after the Spaniards. Two of them, of course, are brothers.)

Jimenez, an 18-time winner on the European Tour, including 11 titles since the age of 40, has had spotty results in nine U.S. Open appearances. His best finish was a tie for second in 2000 at Pebble Beach where Tiger Woods dominated the field. That was followed by a dry spell until 2008 at Torrey Pines when The Mechanic finished in a sixth-place tie. The last two years he missed the cut.

Jimenez resides in Malaga, a large coastal city on the Mediterranean Sea about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the Strait of Gibraltar. This glimmering stretch of coastline has become known as a golf resort destination. Golf Costa Del Sol stretches from Jimenez’s native Malaga to Sotogrande, and includes a number of top championship golf courses and resorts.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Brought to you by YourGolfTravel.com, the online destination for golf breaks uk.)

(Photo credit: Richard Carter, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

Miguel Angel Jimenez: Putting Without a Putter

MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ MISSED a three-footer last week at The Royal Golf Club in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The cigar-chomping veteran momentarily lost his pony-tailed head. He tossed the guilty putter at his golf bag. It broke.

Putter-less, Jimenez faced five more holes with 13 clubs in his bag. Which club did he put into service on those last five greens? The lob wedge. How did he finish? He birdied three out of the last four holes to shoot 65, giving him a share of the second-round lead at the Volvo Golf Champions. He went on to finish second.

That, my friends, is another reason why Jimenez and his tour comrades have their names on their golf bags and I don’t. If Miguel can birdie three of four holes putting with a wedge, I wonder why he even bothers with a putter.

The last time I broke a putter mid-round was a couple of years ago. It was an accident. My 20-year-old Slotline simply gave out, a case of metal fatigue. I was on the 1st hole. I putted with a long iron, but soon decided it was a poor choice. I ended up using my 3 metal. That worked OK. But I made no birdies like “The Mechanic.” And I couldn’t shoot 65 in my dreams.

I didn’t see Jimenez in action without his putter, so I wondered how he did it until I read his quote: “This is not the first time I putt with a lob wedge.”

Jimenez and a stellar European Tour field tee off this week at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters. Eight of the world’s top 20 players will be in action, including defending champion Robert Karlsson, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Paul Casey, Steve Stricker, Ian Poulter, Retief Goosen and Louis Oosthuizen.

Someone may have to putt without a putter—and could still go low.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo credit: Perez, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

VIDEO: Martin Kaymer and Bernhard Langer Yuk It Up (in German)

THIS STILL IN: MARTIN KAYMER won the 92nd PGA Championship on Sunday at Whistling Straits. The Dusseldorf native defeated Bubba Watson in a three-hole playoff. I’m just reminding myself after getting buried in the bunker controversy. I figured it might take a day or two to get out. I’m playing out sideways.

The video shows Bernhard Langer and Kaymer (pronounced as if the “a” is silent) instructing some German golf prospects at the 2009 BMW International Open. Miguel Angel Jimenez and Colin Montgomerie also appear in the video. I don’t understand any of it. (Except the chuckles.)

I expect the German major winners will have another good laugh next time they see each other. Langer won the Senior British Open and U.S. Senior Open in recent weeks. And Kaymer, well, you know.

Again, Martin Kaymer won the PGA Championship. Glory’s last shot. Tell a friend.

−The Armchair Golfer

Whistling or Dire Straits for Harrington’s Ryder Cup Hopes

Editor’s note: Brian Keogh, a golf correspondent for The Irish Sun and a regular contributor to The Irish Times and Golf Digest Ireland, writes about the dilemma of five-time Ryder Cupper Padraig Harrington.

By Brian Keogh
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

PADRAIG HARRINGTON ADMITS THAT this week’s US PGA is his last chance to avoid the need for a Ryder Cup pick. The Dubliner plans to skip the final qualifying event at Gleneagles to play in the clashing FedExCup play-off tournament in New Jersey in two weeks’ time. And that means he must grab a top-four finish at Whistling Straits to ensure that he is not relying on one of skipper Colin Montgomerie’s three wild cards on August 29.

Confessing he could be in dire straits instead of Whistling Straits on Sunday night, Harrington said: “It’s very precarious. No one who doesn’t qualify automatically deserves to be in the team. If you don’t make it on merit, you are asking for a little bit of a favour.”

Ian Poulter sparked a massive controversy two years ago when he decided not to travel to Gleneagles despite the fact that he could still qualify for the team. It was alleged that Poulter had been given “the nod” by skipper Nick Faldo, who later handed him a captain’s pick.

But Harrington will have safety in numbers this time as Paul Casey and Justin Rose, who are also outside the qualifying places, also intend to skip the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in favour of The Barclays.

Harrington said: “It is a very awkward situation, there’s no doubt about it. I saw the last time round that one of the players [Poulter] didn’t come to play the last event and I thought he should have. Now I am in the same situation because I have a Special Olympics clinic at The Barclays and I don’t want to let them down.

“I have talked to some of the other guys who will be looking for a pick and they are all saying they will be playing The Barclays. So at the moment I am committing to the Special Olympics and I’m going to try and qualify this week and have nothing to worry about.”

Seventh in the race for four places from the World Points List and just over €13,245 behind Miguel Angel Jimenez in the battle for the other five places from the European Points List, Harrington knows he needs a massive week in Wisconsin.

“The goal is to get in on the world ranking points because that ends in a week’s time. Even if I pass Jimenez in the money, he can jump by me in the last event in Gleneagles so the goal is to play well this week and sort it out.”

Brian Keogh covers golf for The Irish Sun and contributes to a variety of golf publications. Pay him a visit at Irish Golf Desk.

(Image: Mike Davis/Flickr)

Doug Sanders and the Freight Train Shot

I WAS READING SHANE’S piece on Doug Sanders over at Dogs That Chase Cars and it got me thinking about the man who missed a 30-inch putt on the final green at the Old Course and went on to lose the 1971 British Open to Jack Nicklaus in an 18-hole playoff. I’ve seen Sanders on the Grand Champions circuit on several occasions over the last few years and let’s just say he’s as colorful as ever.

(Note: Sanders was ranked No. 4 in Golf.com’s Top 10 Best Dressed Golfers. The shoes always matched.)

The following anecdote from a Golf Digest feature on Sanders reminded me of Miguel Angel Jimenez’s now famous carom shot off the rock wall at the Road Hole.

In a money game at Cedartown one day, a guy named Dallas Weaver found his ball behind a tree. A lot of money was riding. We thought he was dead. There were train tracks running by our course, and just then a freight train came through. Dallas Weaver turned sideways, took some kind of low iron and banked a ball off the side of a freight car and almost onto the green. That was 50 years ago, and I’ve never seen anyone top that shot.

Sanders is a piece of work. Read more of the Golf Digest story on Sanders and stock up on a month’s worth of golf anecdotes.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Image: Scott Butner/Flickr)