Like a fine wine.

Miguel Angel Jimenez shares the secret to his longevity and explains why he doesn't intend to stop anytime soon...

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Longevity in golf is one of the most underrated skills in the game. Generally speaking, if your name isn’t Bernhard Langer or a handful of others, you fill your boots as quickly as possible in the early days after turning 50 and then watch things head south.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, now 58, has won twice this season already on the PGA Tour Champions. In the rear-view mirror are 717 appearances on the DP World Tour, a record that may never be beaten. He’s done it all with a smile on his face, a trademark cigar in one hand and a glass of Rioja in the other. He’s a genuine phenomenon.

When he turned 40, he had seven wins on the DP World Tour, but his tally now stands at a remarkable 21. His last win on his home tour came at his national open in 2014, when he prevailed at the age of 50 years and 133 days, a record that was eventually broken by Phil Mickelson at the 2021 US PGA Championship. We recently caught up with the affable Spaniard to run the rule over golf and life...

You turned professional 40 years ago. What were those early days like? I turned professional when I was just 18. I was a caddie and an assistant pro and my brother was a professional. I turned pro in September 1982, then I remember the Spanish Open at Las Brisas being in the spring of 1983 and I played there in the pre-qualifier, shot a 74 and missed out. I then did national service in 1984 for 15 months and I had one year without hitting a shot. The following year I started thinking that I wanted to play and I started working properly.