When this magazine was already in the printing process, the sad news of Seve’s death came. We knew that he was not well, that the negative evolution of his illness was accelerating, but it was still a blow to those of us who love golf.
I saw him play for the first time at the 1987 Ryder Cup at Muirfield Village in Columbus, Ohio. It was also the first time I attended a major tournament and I was impressed. I also believe it was the first time he formed with Chema the unbeatable Ryder Cup pairing. I was impressed by his game, his charisma, his mastery of the situation and, above all, I was amazed by the esteem in which he was held by the Americans. When he reached a green the applause was thunderous. None of his team received him like that.
At that time it took me a while to understand him, but I soon realized what Seve meant to golf, to fans all over the world, regardless of nationality, although it was undoubtedly the British, Irish and Americans who appreciated him the most. In Spain we were not aware of what this man represented in world sport.
I was lucky with Seve, because after that I saw him win countless tournaments, such as his last British Open the following year, and again I witnessed the enthusiasm that the Cantabrian awakened among the Anglo-Saxons.
None of “his” players were so loved or aroused so much passion. Why was this so? No doubt his game was spectacular, imaginative, different, of the highest quality, but that was not enough. Seve radiated something else: charisma, an explosive personality on the course, telegenic, I don’t know, something that made him an idol all over the world.
He was one of those personalities that emerge very late in the afternoon, not only in golf, who manage to drag the masses, to generate a current of affection towards them, that others, even with a better curriculum, never manage to do.
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