Ayrshire, Scotland (My Sportsbook) - Anyone remember who finished second to Tiger Woods at that epic 2000 U.S. Open where he won by an eye-opening 15 shots?

One was Ernie Els. He's a three-time major champion, former world No. 1 and a mortal lock for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The other was Miguel Angel Jimenez.

You might know him better as "The Mechanic." Or maybe the guy with the long, curly red hair, who loves red wine, red Ferraris and any colored cigar.

On this Thursday, know him as the first-round leader of the 138th Open Championship.

Jimenez fired a brilliant, six-under 64 on Thursday to hijack the thunder from a nearly 60-year-old Tom Watson, a five-time claret jug holder.

And no, Jimenez doesn't feel badly about it.

"No, no, he's going to be a legend forever. He is one of the guys you have to keep looking for," Jimenez said of Watson. "He's a legend here with us and we have to feel proud to play with him, playing at the level he plays."

Jimenez also flew past 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis, but that's not as huge a story in Scotland in the year 2009.

The Spaniard is in front at Turnberry thanks in large part to a long birdie putt at 18 and remarkable precision from the tee. He missed two fairways on Thursday, both by fractional margins, and is just in love with links golf.

"It's not only you get on the tee and bang, put the ball in the air and it stops," said Jimenez. "You see all the slopes around the greens to put the ball away. You need to play. You need to have passions and focus. You need to use your mind a lot."

In a day of surprise leaders, Jimenez is certainly not a name most would've thought about prior to Thursday. While he is 42nd in the world rankings, Jimenez only has three top-10 finishes so far on the 2009 European Tour schedule.

He is a three-time European Ryder Cupper with a dismal 2-7-3 career mark, including three singles losses. Jimenez got taken down by Jim Furyk in last year's singles to give the Cup back to the U.S. for the first time since 1999, when The Mechanic blew a tire against Steve Pate on Sunday.

But make no mistake, this man is not some weekend duffer.

Jimenez has 15 European Tour titles. That's more than Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Darren Clarke and Sergio Garcia. The 15 matches him with Tony Jacklin and Jacklin's in the Hall of Fame.

Jacklin got there with two major titles. Jimenez has zero. Jimenez hasn't really contended either. His best finish was Pebble Beach nine years ago and that was a historically bad second place.

Jimenez tied for third behind David Duval at the '01 British, but has no other top 10s at the Open Championship. He's got a couple top 10s at Augusta, but nothing to make you think a major title was on the horizon.

Jimenez's time in major contention is certainly not done, but it's shrinking. He turned 45 in January of this year...so tick tock.

"I'm 45 so I don't know how long I'll be out here with these kids," said Jimenez.

What these kids (Jimenez is presumably not talking about Watson) fail to realize is how simple the game can be. Jimenez knew how easy Thursday could be before he even brushed his teeth.

"You look at the sea, it looked like a pond, so nice, so calm. You can't ask for a better day to play golf. No wind, no nothing, and it took care of me," he said.

Jimenez took care of the rest and now he's your first-round leader of the Open Championship.

And he's not that unlikely a leader.