Miguel Angel Jimenez is having a blast so far at The Open Championship. Not only is he currently sitting pretty atop the leaderboard, but he is also partying like only Miguel Angel Jimenez could.

 

 

Jimenez’s love for wine, cigars, and his exuberance on the course have people wondering if he is the most interesting man in the world.

To watch Jimenez play golf, to watch him connect with other players, to watch him acknowledge his fans, is to see a man who savors what he is doing. His long, sweeping, fluid swing, his easy, deliberate stride, his smile that brings an extra crease to his well-weathered face all speak of a man who will stop to smell the roses.

“It is important, no, to love what you are doing?” asks Jimenez. “It is important to enjoy the things that life brings you. I always know that when I start to play golf, that this is what I would like to do. I become good enough to be successful and have many good things for my life.”

Right then, Jimenez picks up the reporter’s tape recorder from the table and holds it close to his mouth, like a microphone: “I just want to say that golf is a beautiful game and it has given me a beautiful life.”

Cigar Aficionado, July/August 2011

Here is Jimenez explaining his warm-up routine, in his sultry Spanish accent, for the ladies: