Spain’s popular Miguel Angel Jimenez is confident of returning to competition in May for the Tour’s flagship – BMW PGA Championship.
Jimenez, 49 has been side-lined since breaking his leg on Saturday 29th December in a skiing accident in the Sierra Nevada mountains near his home in Malaga, Spain.
Miguel Angel Jimenez confident of returning to competition for May’s BMW PGA Championship. (Photo – Tony Doro)
The winner of 19 European Tour events over a 20-year period fractured the tibia bone in his right leg and with doctors needing to insert two pins in Jimenez’s leg.
Just weeks before the accident Jimenez became the oldest-ever winner on the European Tour in capturing the Hong Kong Open at age 48 years and 318 days.
“I’m feeling strong and my leg is getting better by the day,” he said at the opening in Spain of his first Miguel Angel Jimenez Municipal Academy of Golf in Torremolinos (Málaga).
“I am in the gym four mornings a week working on the upper part of the body and then I spend three afternoons in the gym working on my leg.
“So all going well I am hoping to return to competition for the BMW PGA.”
The BMW PGA, and an event Jimenez captured in 2008, will be staged from May 23rd to 26th at the Wentworth Club in Surrey.
The opening of Jimenez’s ‘Miguel Angel Jimenez Municipal Academy of Golf ‘ is the first of many such schools to be funded by the Ryder Cup star.
“This is a dream come true for me as golf has given me everything and I want to give back,” he said.
“One of my goals was to develop and promote golf in this Malaga area and it’s been achieved with the opening of the Academy.
“The land is a 50-year concession from the Town Hall and the Academy will be focused mainly on children and families with special discounts for them.
“The course is nine par three holes with the seventh hole honouring the 12th hole at Augusta National, and one of my favourite holes in the whole world.
“When I played my first Masters in 1995, I practiced with Seve (Ballesteros) and (Jose Maria) Olazábal. I hit a perfect 8-iron to the 12th green and said: ‘Is this the difficult hole you talk about?’
“They laughed and answered: “Wait, wait till the tournament starts”. On Thursday, I am on the 12th tee and the green had disappeared!!”
Unfortunately while Jimenez is delighted with the opening of his Academy the Andalucian Open he hosts each year is almost certainly to be cancelled this year due to a lack of sponsors.
It is believed Jimenez has invested more than Euro 1m of his own money into the event over the past few years.
