Cool Jimenez ready to grind it out
Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez holds a slender lead on three under par at the halfway stage on a bone-dry, hard-bouncing and long-running links that will truly reward the fittest, most patient and even-tempered golfer, of which there are several candidates tantalisingly poised within four shots of the lead.
The complaints about the course condition and set-up that surfaced on the opening day were made to look churlish during yesterday’s second round, forcing several including Phil Mickelson to sample a slice of humble pie as Muirfield again bared its teeth while also clearly identifying the best players in the field.
There is no element of good fortune about those that occupy the leading positions on the 36-hole scoreboard, no hint of a golfer clutching a lottery ticket and a cheeky smile not believing his luck for this is, in the main, a leaderboard containing a host of seasoned pros and major champions.
Jimenez is more seasoned than most and at 49 years of age would become the oldest major champion of all were he to hang on for victory.
His two-birdie, two bogey, level-par round of 71 in a win that had changed direction from the previous day was precisely the performance that tournament organisers the R&A were looking for when they set up this Muirfield course, a textbook display of the aforementioned traits they seek from their champion golfer.
And while Jimenez is no fortune teller, he is enjoying every minute of his tilt at glory, coming 13 years after he finished in a distant tie for second behind Tiger Woods in the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach.
“I’ve been 25 years on the (European) Tour, 19 victories on the Tour, and I would love to have a Major on my career, of course,” Jimenez said. “Why not this one? I would love it. It’s amazing, you know.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen Sunday afternoon. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I’m going to go now, I’m going to hit some balls.
“My coach is waiting there. And I’m going to have a nice cigar. And when tomorrow is coming, when the sun is coming, I will deal with that thing.
“Of course I would like to feel the pressure. If I don’t feel the pressure maybe because I am, I don’t know, if I am there, of course, more higher on the leaderboard the more pressure going to have. It’s better than nothing else.”
Yet Jimenez will have to grind a whole lot more if he is to prevail. He is just one shot ahead of an impressive chasing quartet of Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods, while a further shot in arrears is a group including first-round leader Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champions and double major winner Angel Cabrera, both of whom bogeyed the last, as well as Scotland’s own Martin Laird and Jimenez’s fellow Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello.
American Ryan Moore sits at level par for the tournament while on one over, just four shots off the pace stand Darren Clarke, the leading Irishman, Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwarzel, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Bubba Watson, major champions all, as well as 19-year-old Jordan Spieth and Ian Poulter.
With the cut falling at eight over par, 2011 Open champion Clarke (71) will be joined by compatriots Graeme McDowell (71, +4), Shane Lowry (74, +6) and two-time Open champion Pádraig Harrington (75, +6) in today’s third round.
Following a second-round 75 that left him at 12 over, Rory McIlroy was one of several high-profile names to miss the cut, including reigning US Open champion Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Matteo Manassero.
Westwood, though, is sitting pretty at two under, one off the lead, following a three-under 68, one of just four sub-70 rounds on a testing day at Muirfield.
“It was a good round of golf. Played very well. It’s not easy out there. And I think 68 is a good round,” the Englishman said. “I felt if I came out and shot level par, I thought one-over would be right in contention. Three-under (for the round), to be two-under (after 36 holes) is a real bonus.”
The presence of world number one Woods in a tie for second will add further intrigue to today’s play as he bids to move closer to a 15th major victory in what would be his first since the 2008 US Open while those, like Mickelson at one over, will also feel pretty happy to have come through the first two days still in with a shout.
Today, however, as the sun comes up again to dry out and harden this course once more after an overnight watering, they will all need to roll up their sleeves and start grinding all over again.
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