Seve plays shots that even I can’t visualize in my dreams. There is no better definition than Ben Crenshaw’s to define the enormous talent of one of the greatest golfers in history. A milestone that has become, unfortunately for the early reaper, a myth.
Spain has been the cradle of immense talent throughout its long history. Cervantes, Goya, Velázquez and Picasso have given way in the current century to the modern heroes of our time: sportsmen and women. In a cathodic world in which sporting spectacles hypertensionize society and where television has become the beacon of the new civilization, our country continues to illuminate the world with its flashes of genius. There is Rafa Nadal, the Spanish soccer team, ‘multinational’ teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, Fernando Alonso, Pau Gasol, Alberto Contador and a large group of sportsmen and women who make their country great. And before that, we enjoyed the international triumphs of such greats as Carlos Sainz, Miguel Induráin, Perico Delgado, Ángel Nieto, Paquito Fernández Ochoa, Manolo Santana, Federico Martín Bahamontes?
But if there was one sportsman who made Spain great and international in a field that had been practically unknown in our country until then, it was undoubtedly Severiano Ballesteros. His name leapt into the world limelight when, at the age of 19, he finished second in the British Open. That boy, born in a small town in the north of Spain, already showed signs of the courageous and imaginative game that would soon make him a world reference in this sport and a charismatic player with millions of followers all over the planet.
Seve suckled golf from the cradle. Not in vain, his father was a gardener at the Pedreña Golf Club, barely a hundred meters from his home, and his uncle Ramón Sota, his mother’s brother, was one of the best golfers in Europe in the 60’s (four times Spanish professional champion, sixth in the Augusta Masters, second twice in the World Cup…). One of his three older brothers (all of them later golf professionals) gave him a 3-iron, with which Seve unknowingly began to carve out his exceptional future.
At the age of ten he played his first caddie tournament, which he would win two years later with 79 strokes. It was clear that the boy had promise. He trained on the beach and, on the sly and when the moon was generous, he ventured out to practice and dream on the green fairways of the Pedreña golf course.
He was only 16 years old when, in 1974, he turned professional. In his hometown came his first victory with his new status, at the U-25 Spanish Open. His first ‘European’ check, the equivalent of 1,680 euros, was cashed on his third appearance on the circuit, at the 1974 Italian Open, where he finished fifth.
After a period of European ‘acclimatization’, in 1976 he made the definitive leap to stardom. He won the Order of Merit, and not only won the Dutch Open (his first Tour victory at the age of 19) and the Lancome Trophy, but also the World Cup. His fame became planetary when he came second in the British Open (he had led the tournament for the first three days), tied with Jack Nicklaus, and behind Johnny Miller.
In 1977 he again topped the Order of Merit in Europe and extended his triumphs to the United States, Kenya and Japan. By the age of 20, he had already won on five continents.
As it could not be otherwise, his first victory in a major had to come soon, and it happened at the British Open in 1979, played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. The talented Spanish player became the youngest winner of the century. In his next appearance in a major, the 1980 Masters, he astonished the world again: with nine holes to go, he was ten strokes ahead of the runner-up. He won, of course. At the age of 23, he became the second foreigner and first European to win the famous Augusta tournament, which he also won in 1983. A year later he won the British Open and, after his last putt at St. Andrews, he made the gesture that gave rise to his famous logo, the clenched fist, the unleashed tension? Seve in pure form.
In 1988, the player from Pedreña sealed, with a final round of 65 strokes, his third victory in the British Open, again at Royal Lytham.
And if in individual competitions he was a genius, in team competitions he also demonstrated his mastery, especially in the Ryder Cup, which he revitalized like no one else thanks to his charisma.
In the late 1980s, in a book written by four golf personalities, Arnold Palmer, Mark McCormack, Peter Dobereigner and Peter Allis, one could read the following: “Even before he won the Open at Royal Lytham in 1979, there was a strong current of golfing opinion that Severiano Ballesteros was number one. By 1983 all discussion on the subject had ceased; the bold Spaniard was at the top of the mast, by whatever yardstick he was measured.”
Golf authorities have pointed out that Severiano had the elegance of Hogan, the skill and strength of Snead, the power and aggressiveness of Palmer, the tenacity of Player, the technique of Nicklaus and the coolness of Watson.
Seve has been the player with the most victories on the European Tour. His 50 victories are eight more than the second most victorious, Bernhard Langer. Ballesteros holds another record: he won at least one European Tour title for seventeen consecutive years, between 1976 and 1992.
He is gone forever -never in our memory- an incomparable talent, an irreplaceable genius… the greatest.
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