Seve Ballesteros
Seve Ballesteros: A Pioneer and Inspiration
Seve Ballesteros was a true champion both on and off the golf course. At only 54 years of age, Ballesteros died Saturday from complications regarding a brain tumour. In late 2008, he fainted in a Madrid airport and it was soon discovered that he had a brain tumour. Ballesteros underwent several operations to remove the tumour as well as reducing the swelling around the brain. He was never the same after the operation, looking very weak and being confined to his home since early 2010. The game of golf will truly miss an amazing individual.
From his humble beginnings as a small child hitting pebbles on a beach in Spain with a three iron, Seve Ballesteros quickly rose to fame. At the age of 19 during the 1976 British Open, he gave Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller a run for their money, finishing tied for second with Nicklaus. Four years later, at the age of 23 Ballesteros became the youngest Masters champion in history in 1980. Ballesteros would go on to win four more major championships in his career, 50 European Tour victories, and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1999. What Ballesteros is most known for is his contributions regarding the Ryder Cup. Not only did he have a 20-12-5 overall record and was captain of the winning 1997 team and Valderrama, but he was vociferous in changing who would get to play on the European side of it. Before 1979, the European side only included players from Britain, and Ballesteros was influential in getting it changed so that players on the entire continent could participate. He would also go on to play an integral role in the dominance Europe had over the United States in the Ryder Cup from 1985 until 2005.
What separated Ballesteros from the rest was his imagination and burning desire to compete. One of his most famous shots occurred during the 1979 British Open where on the sixteenth hole he hit a wayward shot into a parking lot full of cars. Instead of rehitting the ball and taking a penalty, he asked for the cars to be moved out of the way and proceeded to hit the golf ball 15 feet from the hole and made birdie, eventually winning the tournament for his first major title. His burning desire can be seen in the way he turned the tide for Europe during his playing days at the Ryder Cup. The United States had dominated the cup before Ballesteros arrived on the scene, but the so-called “Spanish Armada” of Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal dominated in team play, with nine wins and two halves over the duo’s career.
Seve Ballesteros truly reinvigorated European golf during his playing days, and many Europeans golfers today credit him for it. Lee Westwood said it best on Twitter: “Seve made European golf what it is today." He was an influential man within the game of golf, and will be sorely missed.
