Inspirational champion Ballesteros dies aged 54

Andy Flower

LAS VEGAS, (Reuters) – Seve Ballesteros, one of golf’s  most charismatic players who was renowned for his fist-pumping  energy and magical shot-making, died yesterday at the age of  54 after a long battle with brain cancer.

Andy Flower

The Spaniard with the matinee idol looks, who won five major  titles in swashbuckling style and inspired a generation of  players worldwide, died peacefully at his home in Pedrena,  northern Spain, his family said in a statement.

His funeral will be held on Wednesday.

Tributes came pouring in, with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods  talking about Ballesteros’s unique talent and influence and Nick  Faldo describing him as golf’s “greatest show on earth”.

“Today golf lost a great champion and a great friend,”  18-times major champion Nicklaus said in a statement. “We also  lost a great entertainer and ambassador for our sport.

“It was his creativity, his imagination and his desire to  compete that made him so popular. Seve’s enthusiasm was just  unmatched by anybody I think that ever played the game.”

A winner of three British Opens and two Masters titles,  Ballesteros gave golf a much-needed lift in the mid-to-late  1970s.   Along with Briton Tony Jacklin, he was also chiefly  responsible for reviving Europe’s fortunes in the Ryder Cup team  competition.

A man of humble background, he became a father figure for  Spanish golf and replaced American Arnold Palmer as the game’s  most flamboyant and charismatic figure.

Ballesteros won 87 titles worldwide, 50 of them on the  European Tour, and captained Europe to Ryder Cup victory at  Valderrama in Spain in 1997.

He claimed his first major in the 1979 British Open at Royal  Lytham, earning the tag of ‘car park champion’ after conjuring  remarkable rescue shots from all parts of the course.

WALL SHOT

Billy Foster, one of his former caddies, told Reuters he  remembered trying to dissuade Ballesteros from going for a  seemingly impossible shot from behind an eight-foot (2.5-metre)  wall at a tournament in Switzerland.

“He waved me away and proceeded to hit a wedge with half a  backswing over the wall, through some trees where there was a  tiny gap the size of a dinner plate, over a swimming pool, over  60-foot trees, and got it five yards short of the green and then  chipped in,” said Briton Foster.