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Golf legend Seve Ballesteros dies at 54

ESPN staff
May 7, 2011
Seve Ballesteros won the second of his three Opens at St Andrews in 1984 © Getty Images
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Gallery: Seve Ballesteros - Golfing Genius

Spanish golfing legend Seve Ballesteros died at his home in Pedrena in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was 54.

The news came after his family released a statement on Friday to confirm his condition had severely worsened. He had battled with a cancerous brain tumour since it was discovered after he collapsed at Madrid airport in October 2008.

Born in 1957, Ballesteros learned to play golf on the beach, where the basis of what would become an unrivalled short game was developed as he regularly practised with a cut-down three-iron.

Credited with the growth and development of European golf into the powerful entity it is today, Ballesteros burst onto the scene as a professional when he won the 1979 Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St Annes as a fresh-faced 22-year-old, three years after finishing runner-up in the tournament. It was a triumph made all the more memorable for the manner of his victory - making birdie from an overspill car park on the 16th to beat Ben Crenshaw and Jack Nicklaus by three shots.

He followed that with victory a year later at The Masters, becoming the first European to win the fabled event. He went on to win another Green Jacket in 1983, and two more Claret Jugs - at St Andrews in 1984 and back at Lytham in 1988. In all, he won 87 tournaments, including a record 50 on the European Tour.

It was in the Ryder Cup, however, that Ballesteros arguably cemented his reputation. A swashbuckling, unorthodox player who was blessed with a creativity, artistry and understanding of the game that few others have exhibited before or since, he brought that spirit to a competition that was on the wane after years of American domination.

He was instrumental in seeing European players added to the event, and helped the new-look side to a pivotal first victory in 1985 at The Belfry. As captain, he went on to lead the side as the event went outside Britain or America for the first time, securing another memorable victory at Valderrama in his home country.

His indomitable spirit became most obvious in the matchplay format, where his three-wood from 240 yards out of a fairway bunker to take a half against Fuzzy Zoeller at the 1993 Ryder Cup ranks as one of golf's all-time great shots.

"I look into their eyes, shake their hand, pat their back, and wish them luck, but I am thinking, 'I am going to bury you'," Ballesteros once said of his approach to the game.

Ballesteros became increasingly frustrated with golf as his game deserted him in later life, back problems and the influence of technology on the game stripping him of his biggest strengths, but he was more philosophical about the serious health challenges he faced following the diagnosis of the brain tumour.

"You can't have it all in life," he said, during a BBC documentary in 2010. "One day you feel fantastic, the next you never know what is going to happen. You just take a look at how many days of glory I had before. It's been a fantastic life and this, what has happened to me, is what I will call destiny; one test that God is putting on me."

Partly as a result of his Ryder Cup impact, a new tournament - the Seve Trophy - was created by the European Tour in his honour. Seeing European players face off against Great Britain & Ireland in a similar format to the Ryder Cup, Ballesteros captained the European team five times after its inauguration in 2000.

Ballesteros leaves three children: Baldomero, Miguel and Carmen. His funeral will be held on Wednesday, at Saint-Peter's Church in Pedrena - the town of his birth. The Cantabria government said the region will observe three days of official mourning

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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