GOLF: Miguel Angel Jimenez gave himself the perfect fillip for his appearance in the 35th Ryder Cup matches in three weeks time, when he claimed victory yesterday in the BMW International Open in Munich, his fourth victory of an outstanding season on the European Tour.
On a day where the tension and excitement surrounding the tournament itself and the various permutations in the Ryder Cup qualification scenario build to an almost unbearable height at times, the Spaniard showed what an asset he will be to Bernhard Langer with a superb closing 66 for a 21 under par and a two-shot victory over Ryder Cup team-mate Frenchman Thomas Levet.
It was a day of high drama all round but the tournament honours belonged to Jimenez who followed up his earlier season victories in the Johnnie Walker Classic, the Algarve Open de Portugal and the BMW Asian Open to move to fourth on the Order of Merit with €1,381,371.
Level par through three holes after following a birdie at the first with a bogey at the third, Jimenez knew he had to start moving forward if he had a chance of the first prize of €300,000 and he did just that in a blistering spell around the turn.
From the fourth to the 14th hole, Jimenez rattled in eight birdies in total which more than offset bogeys at the eighth and 10th. It was a run which gave him a suitable cushion over Levet, enabling him to par the last four holes and still win by two shots.
Playing with Jimenez, Levet, who birdied the 11th and 14th, had chances to close the gap in the final stages but like his playing partner, could not conjure up a birdie over the closing four holes.
