Jimenez defies years to lead British Open

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez took a one shot lead into the third round of the British Open on Saturday, insisting that at 49 he was not too old to win golf's greatest prize. "I tell you, I love what I'm doing. I play golf. I do this for a living. And I've kept doing the same thing for 25 years. Probably sometime you say if I think maybe it's too many years, but you're wrong," a feisty Jimenez told a journalist who suggested that he might be past his best. "It's the only thing I like to do in my life. And then I enjoy myself. I keep elastic and flexible. I'm still training and walking and still able to shoot low and still here." Jimenez in top spot at Muirfield is all the more surprising in that he broke his leg in a skiing accident in December and is wearing an elbow support to ease the discomfort from tendons he strained when he resumed playing in April. Were he to still be ahead on Sunday evening, he would be the oldest winner of a major in golf history, eclipsing Julius Boros, who was 48 when he won the PGA Championship in 1968. But to get there, he faces an almighty task with 22 players within five shots of his pace-setting score of three-under 139. Those include a menacing quartet of Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson and Dustin Johnson, who share second place just one shot back. Woods and Westwood in particular impressed during Friday's second round played over a Muirfield links that is playing fast and fiery due to two weeks of unbroken sunshine and unusually high, for eastern Scotland, temperatures. Woods, seeking a first Open title since he won his third at Hoylake in 2006, and a first major title since he won his 15th at the Torrey Pines US Open in 2008, has played conservatively so far, using mostly irons off the tees. His playing partner for the first two rounds, Graeme McDowell, has been impressed. "He was very, very impressive the last two days. He will not be far away this weekend the way he's playing. Iron play, the flight control that he has in his irons, he just hits the shot that you're supposed to hit at all times," the Irishman said. "He plays the golf course very conservatively, which I expected him to do because his iron play is -- I'm not sure there's a better iron player in the world. It's incredible how well he controls his ball flight. And he's putting exceptionally well." For Westwood the goal is to finally win a major title at 40 in what is his 62nd attempt. The Englishman has re-located to Florida in a bid to energise his game and he has benefitted from some putting tips from near neighbour Ian Baker-Finch, the Australian who won the Open at Royal St George's in 1991. Westwood said he was determined not to let the pressure of expectations get to him over the weekend. "I love playing The Open Championship. This is the biggest tournament of the year for me, being a Brit, and it being played in Britain. And why not enjoy it out there? It's tough for everybody. So smile your way through," he said. Home hopes were being carried by Martin Laird, two back off the lead, with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott still well in contention at one over. Source: AFP