Spain’s Miguel Angel Jiménez has won The European Tour’s Shot of the Month for October for his stunning approach to the treacherous 17th at Club de Golf Valderrama in the final round of the Andalucía Masters.
Fans from My European Tour voted with a majority of almost 70 per cent for his fearless second shot into the brutal par five penultimate hole. It was an incredible approach, produced under extreme pressure, as Jiménez vied for the title with his fellow countryman Sergio Garcia who, at that point, was a mere two shots ahead going into the final two holes of the tournament.
Jiménez knew he had to produce something special to be in with a chance of reining Garcia in and made the bold call to go for the 536-yard par five in two blows, firing a magnificent fairway wood straight at the pin and over the lake guarding the front of the green, landing the ball in the collar before it eventually finished within ten feet of the hole.
The superb approach from 245 yards out only led to a birdie in the end as the eagle putt narrowly slipped by, and Jiménez would ultimately miss out on the title by a stroke as Garcia made it back-to-back victories, however the shot was indicative of Jiménez’s never say die attitude and crowd-pleasing aggressive mentality.
Valderrama’s infamous 17th, therefore, remains a hole with a special affinity to the Spaniard, after Jiménez became one of the select few to have carded an albatross on it – at the 1994 Volvo Masters.
Tom Lewis picked up second place in October’s vote for driving the 15th green during his splendid march to victory at the Portugal Masters, while the aforementioned Garcia’s approach to the final hole at the Castelló Masters came in third.
One very lucky My European Tour user who voted for Jiménez’s shot will receive their very own stylishly personalised pair of spikeless MyJoys courtesy of Footjoy.
Each Shot of the Month winner from the season will be put forward for The European Tour Shot of the Year Award at end of 2011, won last year by Northern Irishman, Graeme McDowell, for his putt on the 16th hole at The Celtic Manor Resort which helped secure the winning point for Europe in The Ryder Cup.
Jiménez joins Paul Casey (January), Alvaro Quiros (February), David Horsey (March), Matteo Manassero (April), Luke Donald (May), Rory McIlroy (June and July), Thomas Björn (August) and Michael Hoey (September) as winners so far in 2011.
Stay tuned to europeantour.com for the next Shot of the Month competition for November – coming soon – and stay logged in to My European Tour for all the latest competitions and exclusive content from our tournaments around the globe.
