Seve Ballesteros

Severiano Ballesteros Sota (9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.

Severiano Ballesteros Sota was born in the village of Pedreña, Cantabria, Spain, on 9 April 1957, the youngest of five sons of Baldomero Ballesteros Presmanes (1919–1987), who was a farm labourer, and Carmen Sota Ocejo (1919–2002).

One died in childhood, while all the others became professional golfers.

He learned the game while playing on the beaches near his home, during the hours he was supposed to be in school, mainly using a 3-iron given to him by his older brother Manuel when he was eight years old.

His maternal uncle Ramón Sota was Spanish professional champion four times and finished sixth in the Masters Tournament in 1965.

Ballesteros' older brother Manuel finished in the top 100 on the European Tour Order of Merit every year from 1972 to 1983, and later became Ballesteros' manager.

His brothers Vicente and Baldomero, and nephews Raúl and Ivan are also professional golfers.

Ballesteros turned professional in March 1974 at the age of 16.

He gained attention in the golfing world in 1976, when at the age of 19, he finished second at The Open.

He played a leading role in the re-emergence of European golf, helping the European Ryder Cup team to five wins both as a player and captain.

Ballesteros won a record 50 European Tour titles.

He won at least one European Tour title for 17 consecutive years between 1976 and 1992.

He burst onto the international scene with a second-place finish in 1976 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club.

He led by two shots after the third round, but a final round 74 saw him tie with Jack Nicklaus, six shots behind the winner Johnny Miller.

He went on to win the European Tour Order of Merit (money title) that year, a title that he would win the next two years, and six times total, a record at the time (since surpassed by Colin Montgomerie).

A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 international tournaments in his career, including five major championships between 1979 and 1988; The Open Championship three times and the Masters Tournament twice.

Ballesteros won his first Open Championship in 1979 with a closing 70, a round in which he famously hit his tee shot into a car park on the 16th hole yet still made a birdie.

His 1979 win at The Open Championship similarly made him the youngest winner of the tournament in the 20th century, and the first golfer from continental Europe to win a major since Frenchman Arnaud Massy won The Open in 1907.

Ballesteros went on to win five major championships: the Masters Tournament in 1980 and 1983, and The Open Championship in 1979, 1984 and 1988.

His 1980 Masters win was the first by a European player, and at the time he was the youngest winner of the tournament, at age 23 (though this record was broken by Tiger Woods in 1997, when he was 21 years old).

For much of the 1980s and 1990s, Ballesteros was a mainstay of the European Ryder Cup team.

Ballesteros won the rain delayed Masters in 1983 by five shots.

As of 2023, he is the last golfer to win the Masters on a Monday.

On 30 September 1983, Ballesteros joined the PGA Tour.

Ballesteros described the putt he holed on the 18th green at St Andrews to win the 1984 Open Championship as "the happiest moment of my whole sporting life."

In 1984 he played in 15 tournaments, the minimal amount allowed for a golfer with membership.

The following season he played in only 9 tournaments.

He was subsequently suspended by the PGA Tour for failing to meet his commitment.

In 1988, Ballesteros won his fifth and last major title, The Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

The final round was played on Monday after torrential rain had flooded the course and forced Saturday's play to be abandoned.

He described his final round of 65 which beat Nick Price by two shots as "perhaps the best round of my entire career."

Largely because of back-related injuries, Ballesteros struggled with his form during the late 1990s.

Despite this, he continued to be involved in golf, creating the Seve Trophy and running a golf course design business.

His final victory was at the 1995 Peugeot Spanish Open.

In 2000, Golf Digest magazine ranked Ballesteros as the greatest Continental European golfer of all time.

In the 2000s, Ballesteros played sparingly due to continuing back problems and in 2007 he eventually retired from competitive professional golf.

In 2008 he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour.

Ballesteros was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for the second time at the BBC Sports Personality Awards in 2009.

He was presented with the award at his home in Spain by his compatriot and former Ryder Cup teammate José María Olazábal.

Ballesteros died of brain cancer in 2011, aged 54.