Now that it is the first anniversary of the death of the greatest Spanish golfer of all time, the incomparable Seve Ballesteros, his son Javier has competed -as a guest amateur- in his first professional tournament. It has been a very emotional experience for him because the scenario (Sant Cugat, Barcelona) is the same one where 38 years before his progenitor made his debut as a professional, in the Spanish Championship of 1974. Seve was then 17 years old and had a spectacular sporting career -one of the most dazzling in the world- ahead of him.
The truth is that no one has taken over from him in Spanish golf, where the one who has shone the brightest so far in sporting merits has been his great admirer and friend Txema Olazábal, the two-time champion of the Augusta Masters, who has six victories on the American Tour and 23 on the European Tour. Sergio Garcia has also been quite dazzling, who at his peak reached, in 2008, the second place in the world ranking, only preceded in the ranking by the extraordinary Tiger Woods. There is no doubt that Miguel Angel Jimenez is an extraordinary golfer, that Alvaro Quiros hits hard in every way, and that another group of Spanish players shines -without dazzling, unfortunately- on the international scene. And this is when the big news comes out and the media spotlight shines with great intensity on what, hopefully, is a figure in the making. And the truth is that the young Ballesteros has not done badly at all, with rounds of 65, 73 and 68 strokes in the first round of the Peugeot Tour, in which he faced, among others, players who have won in the European, Seniors, Challenge, Alps and Peugeot circuits.
“I really like playing with people who play better than you,” he says modestly, “because you learn a lot. For example in Madrid I play a lot with Pedro Oriol and you train in a different way, you put more of your part”.
Curiously, Javier did not know that Seve had played his first professional tournament in San Cugat: “When I was at the Castelló Masters, Javier Gervás told me that if I wanted to play a tournament, I should tell him. As I was coming to play the Barcelona Championship, I asked him for an invitation to the Peugeot and he gave it to me. When I signed up I didn’t know that it was the club where my father had started, and the truth is that when I found out I was especially excited”.
Javier Ballesteros Botín, a surname of enormous sporting and economic resonance in our country, is aware that genius is not inherited and, at 21 years of age and with a 0.4 handicap, has his feet on the ground and prefers not to have too many illusions. His dream is to become a good professional golfer and to live if possible from this sport, which has involved him so intensely since he was a child thanks to his father. He has a huge physical resemblance to him, but his game is still “very far” from the one that made his progenitor famous all over the world. “I have no pressure to be Seve’s son, because I have nothing to prove to anyone, only to myself,” he assures.
His goal for now is to enjoy the sport: “I don’t set goals when I play this or any other tournament, and much more as an amateur, what you have to do is enjoy and learn”. At the moment he is studying his third year of law in the capital of Spain, where he returned after beginning his studies in the United States. “I spent a month and a half at George Washington University and I was not happy, I had other expectations,” he explains. “Golf, fine, but the rest didn’t convince me,” he adds. “It wasn’t because I was far from home,” he continues, “because I had already studied in England for many years, but something was missing.” The news of his father’s illness was what made him decide to return to his country.
Turning professional is something that has been nesting in his head for a long time, but without setting deadlines: “I have always played golf, I was in the national teams between the ages of 14 and 16, and the fact of having it at home has always made me think about being a golf professional someday; but first I have to finish my career, it is something that my parents have instilled in me a lot, maybe more my father because he missed him, but both have always insisted me a lot, and it is my priority. Then we’ll see. I have no deadlines, it does not mean that as soon as I finish college I will become a professional, at that time we will see what happens.”
When the moment of truth arrives, he will make the decision he thinks is right and -he says- he will have the full support of his mother, Carmen, daughter of the powerful banker Emilio Botín. The young Javier seems to be a serious and judicious boy who knows what he wants and is going to fight to try to get it. If he has inherited a small part of his father’s talent, willpower and work capacity, the future will be propitious for him. See
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