The life of the most interesting man in the world

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Miguel, would you like some water?"

"My friend, water is for fish."

He pours himself a tall glass of 10-year-old Bushmills whiskey.

"Don't forget—your tee time is in 18 hours."

Jiménez, 51, arches an eyebrow but says nothing. He opens a small metal case and produces a Cuban cigar, which he fires up with gusto.

"I come from a different generation," Jiménez says. "And I'm not a hypocrite. I don't hide the way I am. If I want to have a drink, I have a drink. Why shouldn't I? Is it illegal to drink alcohol? Is tobacco illegal? So why should I care if people see me smoking? I do what I do out in the open. If people have a problem with that they can stick their tongue up their arse and let the rest of us do what we want to do. You can quote me exactly the way I said that." He cracks an impish smile. "And what else do you want me to tell you?"

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A statuesque blonde appears, holding four sweating bottles of beer. It is Jiménez's wife, Susanne, a decade his junior, whom he met at a tournament in her native Austria in 2011 (a year after his divorce from his first wife, Montserrat). They married last year.

"She was on the course watching the golf, and she followed us for eight holes," Jiménez says. "At one point I leaned over and said to my caddie, 'I see a beautiful blonde over there, wearing nice pants with a beautiful arse. I want to know exactly where she is on every part of the golf course.' I would be waiting for my turn to hit, and I'd look over at her. Our eyes locked for a moment, and I smiled. And she smiled back. When I went to the driving range, I saw her there and we started talking—in English!"

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"How does she keep you young?"

"More than 50 years since I was born," Jiménez says, then points a finger southward, "but I'm only 20 down there."

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"I started playing golf when I was 15," Jiménez says. "When I turned 18 I did my military service, and after that I decided I wanted to play golf for a living. I joined the tour when I was 25. I wouldn't play this long if I didn't love it. I love competition. That's probably the biggest reason I keep playing. And so I have no trouble getting up every morning to train, to practice, to do what I love to do. These are the things that people don't see.

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"What else motivates you? Money?"


"For me money is just something you need to live well. But it's not going to make you happier. You are happy when you do things in life that you like. Money helps, but it's a means to an end. Amassing money for its own sake is meaningless to me. I make it to use it. I like Ferraris so I buy Ferraris. I wanted to build a golf academy so I did. I like to do things."

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"Are your sons into golf?"

"Oh, yes, they have the poison in their blood. Miguel Angel [20] is studying and playing golf at university in Fort Lauderdale [Nova Southeastern], and Victor [16] studies English and plays golf at an academy in Málaga. The first thing they say when they see me is, 'Dad, let's go play.'"

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