A Class Apart

Jiménez has never been short of friends.

Take, for example, the relationship he enjoys with the people of Crans-Sur-Sierre, home of the Omega European Masters. When he first played in the tournament in 1986, he stayed in the Miedzor Hotel with a group of other Spaniards. So much did he enjoy his week in that hostelry that, when he paid his bill, he asked the owners, Jan and Heidi, if he could book the same room for the following year. Even when the hotel was turned into apartments, Jan and Heidi made sure that the apartment incorporating Jiménez’s room would remain available to their old friend who has never stayed anywhere else in 26 visits.

It was a month or so prior to the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla that my office at The Daily Telegraph asked if I would go out to the following week’s European Masters to interview the Spaniard. The request had come a little late and a phone call to the player’s management group revealed that Jiménez was not doing any more interviews. He wanted to have nothing to worry about beyond the Ryder Cup. Fair enough.

I decided to go to Switzerland just the same and write a piece based on his form of the moment. But when I was standing in his crowd behind the 18th tee, he spotted me and came across. “So,” he said, “you come anyway. Please join us for lunch - one-thirty in the pizzeria up the road."

"Us" turned out to be a table for 12 taking in friends and family including his now ex-wife, Montserrat. He was the perfect host whilst simultaneously giving his full attention to questions about his career.