Last Andalusia Costa del Sol Open of Spain, disputed in Guadalmina At the end of November, it offered a good opportunity to see many of the professional Spanish golfers in action. One of them was Naomi Jimenez, who continued to add tournaments (finished 46th) in a complicated 2020 for her. That is why the malagueña looks at this 2021 wanting to grow to get closer to the European elite positions.
He 2020 it wasn’t the best for her. The stop for the coronavirus it was followed by the fact that she contracted the disease herself. He noticed it on his return. “2020 was a very strange year. I went from being locked up at home to suddenly going out to train and going straight to tournaments, ”she recalls. “I noticed at first that I lacked competition rhythm and that I did not have one hundred percent lung capacity. I drowned a bit when I did the gym. And you could tell having been weeks without feeling the pressure of the competition, “he says. Thus, despite the fact that he overcame the disease without further difficulties, he did not face a season in the best conditions in which he returned after a three-month break.
Therefore, Naomi faces a 2021 in which she is aware that great performance can be a boost to your future. Last year he finished his career in the project RFEG ProSpain 2020. Now it is your turn to continue your path from outside this umbrella of the Spanish Federation. “Having become professionals and having the support of the RFEG is incredible. Luckily I have my sponsors, but there are girls who without this help would not be able to go to any tournament, “he says. One of its main supports is Day, this year, a fundamental guide that is supporting your steps through the world of golf. “They are the engine to continue our normal day to day, so that we can achieve our dreams,” says Noemí.
I noticed at first that I lacked competition rhythm and that I did not have one hundred percent lung capacity. I drowned a bit when I did the gym. And you could tell having been weeks without feeling the pressure of the competition
At 27 years old, Naomi has been trained between United States and Spain. “I graduated in the United States, but the amateur stage is very different. In the end by then golf is not your job“, Explain. On the other side of the Atlantic, he completed a master’s degree in golf course management and direction, since this sport is his present but also his future, in its many aspects.
The elite in golf are hard to reach. Naomi is clear about her dream: get to the LPGA circuit, the best in the world. “I tried to get in for three years in a row. The first I was two strokes away ”, he recalls. After playing two more years in the qualifying phase, Jiménez decided to pack his bags to go home and play in Europe. Of course, without parking your long-term dream. “I have always dreamed of being on the LPGA. The approach is always to play to the maximum ”, he warns. The dream is for now to sneak among the best of the LET Tour, a hard path in which Naomi hopes to take steps little by little. “There is a high level in the United States, but in Europe there is more and more”Naomi explains.
She knows it first hand. “The biggest difference is that There in the United States many tournaments are played and you must be very consistent”, He reflects. The American players and, above all, the Koreans, “from another world” for Noemí, are setting the tone while the young woman from Malaga dreams of becoming consolidated on the other side of the pond. It has the advantage that Spanish women’s golf is already well known in the United States. “Carlota and Azahara have opened many doors for us”Thanks to Carlota Ciganda and her countrywoman Azahara Muñoz, Spanish leaders and in the world elite. “For example, they have already opened up to me to go to university. Azahara contacted the ‘coach’ ”, he is grateful.
Improvement of the game and the mental part
With that desire to reach the very first level, Naomi knows that she has to do everything possible to improve. It focuses on two facets: the game itself and the mental part, decisive in golf. “I remember that that Saturday in Guadalmina I failed in three strokes that I should not miss and that cost me three penalties,” he exemplifies the high price paid for missing golf. Although the worst is not the failure itself. “The question is to manage it so that it does not affect you later. It’s what happened to me then. It affected the following blows ”, he says.
For this reason, Naomi has intensified her work with mental coaches. “The head in the end makes the difference. We all hit the ball, but the key is to do it with a cool mind so that the brain transmits the correct stimuli to the body and arms, ”he says. “The key is to change fear for decision,” he sums up. She performs therapies at the subconscious level and looks for different ways to improve mental game. “If 80% of our game is mental, Why do we train 8 hours of play and 30 minutes of brain?”, He questions. “Golf is like a table and if one of the legs fails, you limp,” he says.
Of course, enhancing that mental part is not the only homework sheet that has been set for 2021. “I want to improve my physical preparation and the second shots, the shots to the green. I do very well the driver and the putt. More distance is missing ”, he details. The distance was lacking in that final part of the year, after his return due to the coronavirus. The loss of muscle mass was decisive in this regard, so being strong is another aspect that is working in this preseason for 2021. “I am more accurate with the short clubs than with the long irons, so I want to gain distance“, He says. Of course, another key is not to lose the swing, an aspect that is usually totally mastered but that can be difficult to settle if the results for many weeks in a row do not arrive.
The head in the end makes the difference. We all hit the ball, but the key is to do it with a cool mind so that the brain transmits the correct stimuli to the body and arms
Starting the new season with some aspects mastered is his goal. “I have given more cane to physical preparation, with a new coach. I wanted to gain something to gain muscle mass and have more punch to leave shorter shots to the flag, “he explains. Naomi hopes that the restrictions due to the pandemic will finally allow the development of a calendar without major alterations that will allow her to achieve that desired regularity. “Last year it hurt, especially here in Europe, because the calendar was broken and there were far fewer tournaments played,” he says. “So we have that illusion for 2021,” he adds.
Of course, another great illusion is to grow. “More than the world ranking, what worries me the most is the card. Every year you gamble for your job and there are 70 who draw the card. I almost never want to look at the ranking because that limits you and I always want to do my best, ”explains Noemí. Continue adding tournaments on the European circuit is essential for their progression. Living from his sport is already more complicated. “In girls you have to be very good to make a living from this, practically always be in the top5. When I have regularly top 20 on the European circuit, if I had not played other tours I would have been very fair to cover the expenses ”, he laments.
But Naomi continues to work and dream to fulfill her wishes. And, if it comes to dreaming, let it be big. “Have the Solheim Cup 2023 at home is a dream come true. There are three years left and there is a lot of competition, but I have it in mind“, recognize. He knows that right now it is a distant goal, but he fully trusts that he can grow up to fight it. “If you don’t believe in yourself, you are finished. It is played at my home, on the golf course of my first professional sponsor. I want to go for it ”, he warns. Illusion is not lacking. Work, either. Both are the building blocks of a formula with which you expect 2021 becomes a year of take-off towards your dreams.
