Miguel Angel Jimenez will tee it up at the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre for the 22nd successive year on Thursday.
Norman back in action in the Swiss Alps
Miguel Angel Jimenez will tee it up at the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre for the 22nd successive year on Thursday.
The veteran Spaniard was determined to make the trip to Switzerland just days after an unscheduled appearance at the Johnnie Walker Championship in Scotland.
Jimenez, twice a winner on the European Tour this season, made a late decision to play at Gleneagles because he was in danger of losing his place in Europe's Ryder Cup side.
In the event he could have gone to his nephew's wedding and still made the team, but the 46-year-old finished a superb joint third.
"I could have stayed home, but you cannot leave it in somebody's hands," he said.
"My family and my nephew and everybody was behind me and said 'that's what you have to do,' so that's what I did and here we are.
"Nobody needs to do nothing in this life. You can sit in any place and look how the days and the hours are going through your life.
"But it's not what we are here for. We are here to learn and do something, not sit there and look what happened."
Brilliant
Winning the title for the first time would be the perfect way for Jimenez to celebrate earning a fourth Ryder Cup cap against the Americans at Celtic Manor on October 1-3.
Italian Edoardo Molinari, whose brilliant charge to the title on Sunday was followed an hour later with a wildcard from skipper Colin Montgomerie, is the only other member of the European team taking part in the Swiss Alps.
Molinari has been paired in the first two rounds with 55-year-old two-time former Open champion Greg Norman, who returns to competitive action almost a year after shoulder surgery.
The Australian's last appearance at the event was five years ago - and his best finish of third was back in 1980.
Open champion Louis Oosthuizen is also part of the field at Crans.
