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5 OCTOBER 2008. SEVERIANO BALLESTEROS
IS DIAGNOSED WITH A BRAIN TUMOUR.

MAY 7th 2011

It's not fair he had to go

at fifty-four.

BALDOMERO ‘MERIN’ BALLESTEROS
SEVE'S BROTHER

It's just not fair.

I know it happens to
a lot of people

even many kids...

and I get it,

I totally get it.

But losing your brother,

when he didn't have time to enjoy life,
broadly speaking,

as he should have,

to lose him...

and bidding us farewell, on top of that.

That's...

deep and painful.

The house where we grew up

was as modest

as a house can be.

There were

no luxuries at all.

Just the basics, I'd say.

MANUEL BALLESTEROS
SEVE'S BROTHER

Maybe not even that, not even the basics.

There were essentially four rooms.

My parents used to sleep in one of

the bedrooms and there was another one

for my two older brothers,

while Seve and I used to sleep

in the third bedroom.

By the way, there was no bathroom,

VICENTE BALLESTEROS
SEVE'S BROTHER

no toilet.

The toilet was

the cowshed and

we'd wash outdoors with

a basin we had.

The village was
basically... very

hardworking people

and we lived...

some were farmers,

others were...

fishermen.

Everyone earned their living as

best they could.

I'd say he was
my father's favourite son

and pretty much the same
for my mother, I think.

And he was the youngest,
of course.

He was our little boy

and we had to spoil him a bit,

he was pampered.
Everyone, I think,

we all did that a bit,
spoiling him.

He also regarded his father
as if he were a god.

He could see he was very big.

He had been rowing
champion of Spain in traineras.

Because of that, he used to consider
him as someone truly great.

Besides, my father was very big,
with huge hands.

Well, we began playing golf

mostly because our parents needed us to.

They came from a very humble family

and an extra income was always needed.

And of course, you could earn that

income working as a caddie.

At the time, we had nothing.

Not even bicycles, nothing,

nothing at all
to have fun with.

And of course,
working as a caddie.

There was a caddie championship

every year and that's
where the passion comes from.

He was eight years younger, and

I won a very important tournament at 19.

Of course, he was 11 when

that happened. So, he could see

a brother of his

playing a sport like golf

which he also liked

or which he could

come to enjoy.

Did he use to run away at night, as well?

Yeah, even at night, under the moonlight.

Always on the golf course, always

with a club, hitting the ball,

like around midnight or

thereabouts.

Were all the brothers like that or

did Severiano run away more often?

He always stood out, on everything.

That reminds me of the time when he

went to tend the cows.

He left the cows unattended

and ran away to the golf course, to play.

And another time when I was

over there, he threw a ball

at me and hit me right

in the middle of my face.

Where did he throw it from?

Some 100 metres away. I was coming

down the stairs when the ball

struck me right in the face.

My father used to say,

very, very often,

when we were all

looking for him...

my father would listen to
all our conversations

and say: ‘leave the kid alone,
he knows what he's doing’.

He used to want the family to

have dinner early,

so he could then run away to

the golf course, to play.

The full moon, the stars would be

shining in the night sky,

and so on and so on.

That used to light up
the golf course a lot.

He'd really like being on his own.

Actually, when playing golf,

he'd very often

play alone.

Actually,

he'd jump over the

wall of the golf course,

he'd jump over and play

under the moonlight.

He also used to
play on the beach, at first.

In the beginning, when he was younger.

In theory, I was going to school.

The thing is that after

the first 200 metres

I had a 5-iron club hidden

and I'd swap the books

for the club, leave the books,

take the club and run away to

play golf before anyone could see me.

Seve's 3-iron was
talked about a lot.

As far as I can remember,

he stole it from the caddie master,

who was called Chi,

when he wasn't even a caddie himself.

He noticed a broken windowpane
at the back of the house

where the clubs were kept.

And he grabbed one.

The first one that he laid his hands on.

He didn't bother checking to see
if it was a 5 or a 7.

It was a 3-iron, but only
the clubhead, with no shaft.

And then,
when that...

He had to fit it

with a shaft,
which he got from the bushes.

His priority was,

once he got an iron

in his hands, to play golf.

And it was as if there was something
inside him,

some sort of instinct that said to him:

‘Hey, look, today after recess,

leave school and
don't come back until tomorrow’.

And that's what my brother
really used to do.

We were lucky.

We had the privilege of

playing a sport
as beautiful as golf and

of achieving many things,
specially him.

Because Seve was....

as everybody knows,

he became World Number One.

Seve was self-made.

Seve did everything by himself.

No one taught him
anything at all.

It all came to him naturally.

He was a genius.
He was all pure skill.

He had an unbelievable imagination.

He learned to play with his hands.

With the head,

with rhythm

and with the hands.

Everything developed
distinctively.

He grew up, he caddied
for several club members.

One of them was
Santiago Ortiz de la Torre,

a great doctor
and an even better person.

I still remember him.

I'm going to introduce you

to Dr Santiago Ortiz de la Torre,

the best children's doctor in Santander,

and the person who taught
me to play golf.

I used to tell him to stand

in front of me and then I'd swing

and consequently hit the ball,

something we referred to as
‘zarpera’ (swipe).

Swipe, yeah.

Swipe, as from a paw.

So, he would see me hitting the ball

and I used to ask him:

‘did you see that swing?’

‘Yes, sir’, he'd reply.

‘Well, if you ever want

to be a world champion,

if you ever want to
become a good golf player,

that's exactly what you should never do,

what I just did’.

They used to play nine holes in the

morning on Sundays and then he'd invite

him to watch the local football team,

Racing de Santander.

When we played a game,

I'd give him a head start.

I always let him

lead up to the 17th hole

but on the 18th
I would tell him to do a couple of

things the wrong way round, the exact

opposite of what he had to do.

So, I always beat him and

got to watch the match
for free every Sunday.

All thanks to this gentleman.

When he was 13 years old, yeah,

13 and above, 13, 14,

I already noticed it very soon, because

he was an outstanding boy
when it came to golf.

He was...

the best player that I had ever seen
at that age.

Rather, I had never seen
anything like it before.

Seve became a lot more mature in

every aspect, in every aspect.

Not just in sports.

Severiano, how old are you?

20.

You're just a kid, right?

Well, sort of.

Maybe you're as rich in experiences as

an older person, is that what you mean?

May be.

Prone to violence?

No.

Responsible?

Quite.

Liar?

I don't think so.

And cynical?

Neither, of course.

He is, rather he was,

a very fast learning kid.

Gary Player, from South Africa, was

the singles champion of this tournament.

Note the hands holding the club

with a perfect technique.

Seve truly admired Gary Player

for one simple reason.

And that's because Seve went

to La Manga in 1972

to work as a caddie

and Gary Player was there.

GARY PLAYER
WINNER OF 9 MAJORS

He was bewildered by the

sheer number of white balls lying in

front of him.

Because Seve had never seen

a brand new white ball.

He noticed that he used to work out.

He always carried
a set of weights with him,

small weights,

and he already took a
liking to Gary Player.

I like him a lot for...

his professionalism and his

determination and above all, for

how hard it's been for him to

achieve what he has.

Seve saw something in Gary Player

that he had never seen in

other players.

Courage, ambition, determination,

which is exactly what Seve displayed
throughout his career, too.

I met Dr Campuzano
on this very golf course,

Real Golf de Pedreña.

He used to play here.

He was a doctor

and used to come

here every summer.

He was a pretty good player.

Once we had lunch together,

the two of us on our own.

We talked about this and that

and I said:

‘I've got a brother who's going

to be very, very good’.

He asked: ‘how are his finances?

How will he get ahead?'

I replied:

‘well, I'll finance him

as much as I can for as long as I can’.

But he said:

‘no way, mate,

how the heck are you going to do that?

I'll do it’.

His offer came from the heart.

He told me he was a great player,

still a young boy but that he

could be something out of the ordinary.

He then said:

‘he needs some support’.

So, when I had the chance,

I paid for him

to go to South Africa.

He spent two months

in South Africa.

The kid performed fairly well.

From then on, he began getting ahead

and since he's cut out to be

a great champion...

he became Severiano.

That's how the whole affair began.

He never asked for anything

in return, right?

Usually, people say:

‘I'll help you, but on one condition’.

Not in this case.

We played the Spanish Championship

in San Cugat in 1974.

That's when I first met Severiano.

So, we finish playing,

MANUEL PIÑERO
EUROPEAN RYDER CUP TEAM MEMBER (1981-1985)

I win the championship and a mate of mine,

Manolo Cabrera, congratulates me

and says:

‘there's a guy here from

Pedreña who's an amazing player,

he's awesome’.

I went to meet him, said hello

and he congratulated me. But he was

very upset, he was nearly in tears.

So, I said: ‘Severiano, what's

the matter? You look so upset...

Didn't you play well?’

And he replied:

‘I didn't play as I expected to. I came

here to fight for the championship

but I didn't succeed’.

I said to myself, this guy

sounds like he's going to be big.

Why?

Because he was daring,

driven, hopeful

and very determined.

All the great players have

something special.

Some may have it in common with

other players, others not so much,

but they all have something special.

Severiano was a rebel.

He was a guy who

told himself, right at the beginning,

‘I'll show the world

that I can beat everyone,

Nicklaus and all the best players in

the world’.

And I think that being a rebel,

being daring, is what

made Severiano achieve what he did.

Because if you don't have it in you

and you're not able to visualise

that you can do it,

then it's never going to happen.

Also, he was gifted

with awesome skill,

commitment, work attitude and

willingness to self-sacrifice.

The day I met Severiano

was the week before

he turned 16.

I met Severiano

that week in Estoril.

I really could see he was a guy...

VICENTE ‘EL CHINO’ FERNANDEZ
GOLFER AND SEVE'S COACH

First of all, his physical

condition was very good for his age.

How did it happen, turning

professional at 17?

At 16, rather.

Oh, well, it was a little bit...

Nothing out of the ordinary.

I could have turned professional

even before, at 14,

because I already played

well enough to compete with

Spanish players.

However, there was a rule that

prevented players from turning

professional before 16.

We would go out to play on

practice days and when

we began to see the things

he could do,

it was truly...

As we say in golf, it was ‘wild’.

What do we mean by that?

That he didn't control his drive.

It wasn't accurate,

but then he would make

unbelievable recoveries...

No matter where the ball was,
always came out well.

The first tournament I won,

I won it precisely here, in Pedreña.

It was the Spanish Under-25 Championship,

which I won three months after

turning professional. That is, when

I was just 17.

That's when things began to

take off a bit.

I heard that Gary Player

had a plane ready to

fly from Barajas, Madrid.

So, I went to him and

said: ‘Gary, would it be possible,

I mean...

Could you do us a favour?

We're also going to South Africa'.

And we flew in the plane with him.

When we were in mid-flight,

he made me lots of questions.

Seve was sitting facing us.

I was... I was sitting to

Gary Player's right,

next to him.

And he said:

‘well, is your brother

really that good?’

His performance in South Africa

wasn't that great, but then again,

the country was...

Everything was new,

the flight had been very long...

I guess he was
just a kid and

he must have felt intimidated,

figuratively speaking.

I believe it was the best thing that

could have ever happened to Seve.

We played four tournaments

in South Africa

and Seve played fairly well,
very well.

The background to the British Open of 1976

is something out of
a science fiction movie.

The week before

the British Open

my brother was

reaping grass for

the haystack

at home, together

with my father.

What's up?

See? Do I know how to use the reaper,
or don't I?

It's fairly well done.

So, a kid

who had been

working on the fields

with his father just one week before,

talking about crickets,

cows, whatever...

he suddenly finds himself

playing the finals

against Johnny Miller.

JACK NICKLAUS
WINNER OF 18 MAJORS

His shoes were worn-out.

There were, may be, two

or three spikes missing in

his left shoe.

But that didn't bother him.

I must say that he played

some holes awfully. That much is true.

But others were

flawless, really good.

The fact that
he was competing for the Open

didn't strike me as ordinary at all.

It didn't strike me as normal.

Johnny Miller said that it was probably

better for Severiano not to have won

that tournament.

That maybe it would have been detrimental

to him.

I don't think so.

To be fair, I didn't expect it.

I was 19 and had very little experience.

In fact, I didn't win

precisely because of my lack of experience

Also, I didn't win because

I wasn't ready.

Finishing second was better

than winning for me,
because that would have

entailed a huge responsibility.

And I don't think I would have been

able to deal with it.

I wasn't ready to win.

He never stepped on the first hole

tee-box thinking about second place,

not in any tournament.

Been able to win it later on
was an entirely different story.

That's when he became

world famous, because the

tournament was broadcast

to all parts of the

world.

A STAR IS BORN.

A 19-YEAR-OLD BOY
COMES CLOSE TO WINNING

THE WORLD'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS
GOLF TOURNAMENT.

The British press was all over him.

VERY HAPPY

He filled many,
many pages in the newspapers.

He was asked tons of
questions but he wasn't able to

answer them,
because he didn't speak English.

They drove him half crazy.

And he hadn't even

won the tournament...

It was a time when great

players seemed to appear

spontaneously.

The counterparts of the

tennis ball boys

OLGA VIZA
JOURNALIST

were the caddies, who could

play wonderfully.

Piñero,

Garrido,

the Ballesteros brothers...

Why are you called the Spanish Armada?

I don't know, maybe it's

because of all the tournaments

we've won this year.

That's something
we had never achieved before.

I think that's all there is.

We've won 9 out of 13.

Maybe that's why...

All of them, right?

Yeah, nearly all.

Truly...

The Spanish Armada

was a showboat,

manned by a crew
of amazing

professionals,
true golf workers,

who achieved outstanding feats

that no one

ever heard about.

Well, my style is precisely what

people like. That's why they

come to watch me play.

It's fairly spectacular. People

are satisfied and go home

happily, after watching a

couple of shots of mine.

I'm not monotonous like

most players.
My shots are quite spectacular.

That's why I have

a large following.

When playing, he'd do

all sorts of different things.

You can compare it to

Maradona or Messi, for instance.

They used to say he was a wizard,

because he could figure out
and to do things that no one else could.

His shots were most spectacular

EDUARDO ‘EL GATO’ ROMERO
1991 SPANISH OPEN CHAMPION

in the most difficult situations.

I've seen him get on his knees
to hit the ball.

If he couldn't get under a tree

he would kneel down

and hit the ball out

while on his knees.

Applauses from the public,
a brilliant shot by Severiano.

WILD DRIVE

GREG NORMAN
TWO-TIME BRITISH OPEN WINNER

In order to show off to the other players

how chill he was before a game,

He would take three balls and balance them

on the palm of his hand,

one on top of each other.

That's not humanly possible!

I tried.
My hands are not steady any more,

but not even then.

I've never met anyone else able to balance

three balls on top of each other.

Every time Seve stepped into the rough

JORGE ANDREU
PHOTOGRAPHER

he would look upwards to the

pine trees, if there were any.

Why?

Because he took it for granted
that he was going to

find the ball and he was already thinking:

‘if I find it over that area, then...’

He was looking for the way out, a gap

in the branches to hit the ball
out through the pine trees.

BILLY FOSTER
SEVE'S CADDIE (1990-1995)

SEVERIANO
H.M. SHOT

1979 was not a normal

year for him.

It didn't find him in a
goodphysical condition.

I've got some issues with my back.

Thankfully, I'm quite

strong so I can...

I can keep playing.

I think that I'll play

next week's tournament and

I'll go home to rest for

two weeks.

The car park shot... I wouldn't say

he did it on purpose, but it was

a brilliant strategy on his part.

JACK NICKLAUS
WINNER OF 18 MAJORS

HALE IRWIN
THREE-TIME US OPEN WINNER

The wind was blowing left to right

and very strongly.

My brother used to say that the

closer you get to the green

with your drive, the higher

the chances of hitting the ball

near the hole with your

second shot or of

hitting it on the green.

That day, his drive was
truly remarkable.

However, the wind carried the ball
a lot further away and

it landed in a car park.

It was a designated car park because

no one in the organisation believed

that any professional player could

reach the area with a drive.

That's when Vicente told me:

‘if he keeps focused, he's winning

the tournament, if he keeps focused’.

And I told him: ‘it would be odd,

for our brother to loose focus’.

HALE IRWIN
THREE-TIME US OPEN WINNER

Usually in golf you can't be certain
of a win until the game is over, but

I was sure in 16... When I putted

the ball into the cup, a putt of

about 5 or 6 metres,

I said to myself:
‘this is it, I'm the winner’.

I was as happy as the next man,

at least as much, probably
more than anyone else.

We were on the right-hand side of
the green. Baldomero and myself

jumped over the crowd,
stomping on the spectators.

I bet they wondered where we
were going, dashing forward like mad.

We hugged each other and

for the first time in my life
I saw Seve cry.

The suffering and endurance

involved in a golf tournament are

very hard to explain and convey.

It demands 4 hours
of unwavering concentration,

of non-stop struggle
against the course itself

and against many other things.

It's difficult to explain.

For him, the U.S. Masters at Augusta

was like a marriage.

He liked it because the fairways

were quite wide. He used to say

that he didn't have to limit his drive

there, he could hit the ball

from any angle.

Also, he found it

remarkable that

everything was green.

The course was green, caps on sale

were green,

drinking cups were green...

Everything was green.

KENNETH SCHOFIELD
EUROPEAN TOUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE (1975-2004)

SEVE WILL SOON BECOME
THE SAVIOUR OF THE RYDER CUP

TONY JACKLIN
EUROPEAN RYDER CUP CAPTAIN (1983-1989)

JACK NICKLAUS
WINNER OF 18 MAJORS

I remember, maybe,

the good atmosphere
in the team

and how full of joy
everyone was.

BERNARD GALLACHER
EUROPEAN RYDER CUP CAPTAIN (1991-1995)

You play for a team and
for your continent, for your country

and for the public.

I have competed in tournaments

all over the world and,

to be honest,
here is where I've felt the pressure most

and where is the responsibility.

GEORGE O'GRADY
EUROPEAN TOUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE (2004-2014)

SEVE DEMANDS APPEARANCE MONEY
TO COMPETE IN TOURNAMENTS.

AS A REPRISAL, THE EUROPEAN TOUR

BANS HIM FROM THE 1981 RYDER CUP.

JOHN HOPKINS
JOURNALIST

SEVE BALLESTEROS BANNED
BY THE EUROPEAN PGA

SEVE, THE SUPERCHAMPION

With the benefit of hindsight,

I think he was right.

Because it is in fact common

practice nowadays in most tournaments,

isn't it?

It's not even a contentious
issue, anymore.

But at the time,

it was very controversial

among professionals.

BERNHARD LANGER
TWO-TIME US MASTERS WINNER AT AUGUSTA

WEIRD BRITISH EXCUSE
FOR BALLESTEROS’ ABSENCE

BERNHARD LANGER
TWO-TIME US MASTERS WINNER AT AUGUSTA

SEVE VOWED TO NEVER
PLAY THE RYDER CUP AGAIN

1983 RYDER CUP
PALM BEACH GARDENS, USA

SEVE WILL PLAY THE RYDER CUP

Seve always had this idea

of taking on the Americans.

1985
THE BELFRY, ENGLAND

SAM TORRANCE
EUROPEAN RYDER CUP TEAM MEMBER (1981-1995)

SEVE'S LEGEND IN THE
RYDER CUP IS BORN

There's always been

an extra notch of rivalry,

maybe even jealousy,

on the part of the American players.

Fair enough...

As such, Seve never wanted

to play in the US.

He loathed the place.

I don't know if that was because

it was too big for him or whatever,

but he didn't like the US.

The players there didn't stick together,
they didn't have team spirit.

Seve was obsessed with defeating

the Americans.
That was due, mainly,

to his beginnings in the United States.

They weren't easy.
No one made him any favours.

It was made obvious to him

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL
TWO-TIME US MASTERS WINNER AT AUGUSTA

that he wasn't welcome

and that aggravated him big time.

There's one anecdote of a time when

he was getting dressed
in the changing room.

He was playing one of the

big PGA tournaments.

So, he was sitting down,

changing his shoes and he could

hear two or three
American players chatting

in the nearby hallway.

They were talking

about the tournament

and at some point in the conversation

the name Severiano Ballesteros
came up.

They began to question

what a Spaniard was doing

there, someone who,
first of all,

didn't have the necessary level,

and secondly,

was trying to,

somehow,
take the money off the

American players.

That was really painful for him.

In the US he was required to compete

in 15 tournaments a year, at least.
That was the minimum amount

demanded and Severiano refused.

He wanted to be free to
play wherever he felt like.

As I already said a long time ago,

playing 15 tournaments in the US and then

coming to Europe to play is really hard.

It's very demanding, can't be done.

He was ready to play 8 or 10 tournaments.

Maybe 10 at the very most.

Also, he wanted to be free to

choose the tournaments, so he could spend
more time in Europe

and, therefore,
be closer to his loved ones

and to his family.

VICENTE ‘EL CHINO’ FERNANDEZ
GOLFER AND SEVE'S COACH

He refused to play

more than five or six tournaments

and that's when he

was banned from the PGA Tour and

had issues with the president of

the American PGA.

He'd lose his temper
every time he thought someone

was being unfair to someone else.

He didn't care if the person being
unfair was a big name

or had an important position.

He always spoke his mind.

Didn't rely on anyone to convey
the message.He'd say it himself.

He was very much upfront,
very much upfront.

BERNHARD LANGER
TWO-TIME US MASTERS WINNER AT AUGUSTA

They didn't accept it.
There's nothing we can do.

It seems they're not making
European players any favours, are they?

No. It's the best way to be sure
that American players always win.

If they play on their own,
they will always win.

I believe that

the American Tour
was increasingly

in need of Severiano Ballesteros

taking part in it.

That much became obvious later on.

Because money talks
in the US and having Severiano

in a tournament always
drew a larger crowd and

increased advertising revenue
for organisers and sponsors.

Winning the US Masters is the

most ambitious goal that any
professional player can have.

Most importantly, it means beating
the Americans in their own backyard,

in a tournament with such a long
tradition and so relevant...

It's something very, very special.

The rows he may have had
with other players were a joke

SERGIO GIL
JOURNALIST

compared to the ones
he had with the referees.

JOHN PARAMOR

CHIEF REFEREE PGA
EUROPEAN TOUR (1976-2020)

Victory is at stake.

1994 VOLVO MASTERS
VALDERRAMA, SPAIN

He's playing against Monti.

It's the 18th hole.

Severiano plays a powerful shot,

the ball flies over the fairway and

lands right by a tree trunk.

But there's a molehill

under the tree.

He would call a referee and the
referee would say:

‘no, Seve, you can't do that’.

He would call another one and
he would also say: ‘no, Seve’.

Until the fourth or fifth would say:
‘all right, Seve’.

Severiano had a huge respect
for John, too. He respected his work,

because he knew it
was hard and difficult.

He always respected him.

1984 BRITISH OPEN
ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

The 1984 British Open in

St Andrews was,

for him, specially

meaningful, more than
any other tournament.

St. Andrews is where the first seven

rules of golf were laid out
for the first time.

For him, there was nothing
like a win in St Andrews.

BERNHARD LANGER
TWO-TIME US MASTERS WINNER AT AUGUSTA

He played very well. He played

perfectly against Tom Watson,

a player who had been

climbing the ranks and

was out to get him.

Severiano had an important advantage:

he was playing first.

And when you play first,

there's tremendous pressure
on the other player.

Severiano was very good
at holding his horses,

as he used to said,

and he birdied in 18.
That's when he pumped his fist.

These gestures were turned
into his own logo,

when he pumped his fist like this.

He shouted to the TVcameras: ‘I got it in,

I got it in, I got it in’.

I was like: ‘I got it in,
I got it in’,doing like this.

The British Open represents, from

my point of view, the tradition,

the history
and a much more inventive type of golf.

SEVE, ‘THE MASTER’

1984: SEVE'S PLAY IS AT ITS BEST.

BUT IT WON'T LAST LONG.

Seve left everything when

his father was diagnosed with an illness.

He was terrified of losing
his father.

For him that was the most important thing
in the world at the time.

When there was only

one possible outcome,

Seve fell apart.

His parents

used to keep his feet on the ground.

They were his connection
to an inner essence

that he wished to never leave behind.

He had wanted to win

that US Masters for his father.

Instead, it made him suffer even more.

We were playing with Tom Kite.

Tom Watson's group
was in front of us.

And stillfurther ahead
was Jack Nicklaus's group.

TOM KITE
US RYDER CUP TEAM MEMBER (1979-1993)

We went to 15 and
he hit a really long drive,

right on the middle of the fairway.

When we got to the ball, first

we had to decide what club

to use next.

So, we were discussing
the clubs.

4 Iron, 5 Iron.

Finally, we agreed:

‘OK, use a 4 Iron

with a softer, more gentle shot,

rather than hitting the ball harder

with a 5 Iron’.

That's what we agreed.

Meanwhile, Tom Watson's group

was, like I mentioned before,

in the 15th hole.

They were very slow.

Jack Nicklaus' group was at 16.

Likewise....

There seemed to be a sort of build-up

of people over there

that made things very slow.

Something odd was going on.

I've never been to a Masters

or to a Major championship

or to any other kind of

tournament where I've had to wait
for 15 minutes, at the very least.

That's how long
we were there.

At some point

I told him: ‘Seve, let's go for a

short walk away from the green,
so we keep warm’.

And this we did.

We walked 70 to 80 metres

away from the green

and came back.

When we got back,

it was Seve's turn to take a shot.

He set up,

hit the ball poorly and

sent it to the water.

I've also had terrible moments,

of course.

If I were to choose a lowest point,

it would probably be the 1986 US Masters.

Mostly because my father had

passed away shortly before and

before he died, I promised him

that I'd win the US Masters in his memory.

That's why it was such
a hard, hard blow.

I'll never forget it.

We never talked about that shot again.

He kept his feelings to himself
until the day he died.

He never mentioned it to me
and neither did I to him.

Pretty much the same happened

the following year, only
differently this time.

That was the 1987 Masters,

during the playoff.

He hit the ball to

metres away from the flag,

levelled with the flag.

He putted with just the right strength,

but the ball was a tiny bit too far

to the right. Now it was a metre

and 30 centimetres uphill lie,

an easy putt,

but he missed again.

After that, we headed home.

We walked up the hill

some 15 or 20 metres

in front of me.

To be honest, after I missed the putt
in the Masters, I was walking up

the fairway of the 10th hole

when I was offered a ride

back to the Club House.

But I declined because at that time

I felt like walking on my own.

I must admit that,
walking up that steep slope,

which seemed
steeper and longer

after I had lost,

I was crying.

I won't deny it.

It was the World Cup Match Play.

Before the tournament,

Greg Norman and Seve

went for a game.

1986 WORLD MATCH PLAY
WENTWORTH CLUB, ENGLAND

Seve told me: ‘there he is,

this year's winner’.

He must have seen something
in him because Norman had

played very poorly at the beginning
of their training game.

For the first two holes he seemed

like he was competing in...

I don't know...

like some looney alien Open.

Seve asked me how much

money I had on me.

I can't remember

if it was 40 or

20 quid, but he said:

‘OK, get them ready.

I'll tell you what we'll do.

I'm going to challenge

Greg to see whose

drive is longer,

his or mine’.

I said: ‘Seve, but you know his

is more powerful than yours’.

Anyway, Seve told him:

‘listen, Greg, let's see

whose drive is longer,
yours or mine.

Let's bet on it’.

Greg totally smashed his first ball.

Mightiest hit ever.
And I said to Seve:

‘there's no way you can reach that long.
Not in a hundred years’.

But Seve wasn't happy yet.

After losing his first bet he

said: ‘hey, give me a chance

to break even!’ Yeah, yeah,

whatever, Greg said. And he

totally obliterated the ball again.

Seve was far shorter,

by comparison.

Seve paid him and when we

were walking along the fairway

I was like: ‘Seve,

you've left me penniless!

That was all the money

I had on me.

Why did you do that?’

Greg didn't pull any muscles,

he won the tournament,

I lost my money

and Severiano and I went home.

1987 RYDER CUP
MUIRFIELD ASSOCIATION, USA

Severiano approached

Toni and said: ‘Toni,

don't worry,
team me up with Jose Mari.

We'll play fine’.

When he was playing with Olazabal

at the Ryder Cup,

he was giving Olazabal instructions.

EDUARDO ‘EL GATO’ ROMERO
1991 SPANISH OPEN CHAMPION

At times he sounded like Olazabal's dad.

He was like, ‘shoot here, shoot there’.

It was truly remarkable. That was

Seve's approach to the game.

Chema Olazabal admired Seve

big time, he always did.

I won't forget when Chema began

turning up to his first tournaments.

I think he's playing very well.

In any case, Jose Maria is

aware that a big tournament is

within his reach. In fact, I'm sure he'll

win one soon enough.

In 1985, the Spanish

Open was played in Pedreña.

JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL
TWO-TIME US MASTERS WINNER AT AUGUSTA

Anyway, I had just turned

professional.

We were obviously playing in Pedreña,

Seve's home.

To be honest,

I have to say that I played
very well.

In the end it was down to a

play-off, to break the tie.

Severiano obviously

won the play-off.

When the championship was over,

after the prize distribution,

the press interviews and so on,

he took me aside and said:

‘Jose Maria, may I speak to you

for a minute, in private?’

He went on: ‘Josemari,

you may not understand yet what

I'm about to say but

you'll get it when the time is right.

It may have been for the
better that you didn't win today

and that I did.’ I looked at him

in shock and said: ‘come on, Seve,
you know we're in this to win,

aren't we? I don't understand

why you're saying that’.

‘Don't worry, you'll get it
when the time is right’.

Sometime later, maybe

a few months or the following year,

I was playing in the European Tour

and he explained what he had meant.

‘Let's see, Jose Mari.

I told you that because

if you had managed to beat me

at my own home in your first year

as professional, expectations would

have been really high and

the pressure
could have been overwhelming.

In the long run,
it would have been detrimental’.

That explained a lot

of things, to some extent.

I must say that I've never

met anyone, apart from Severiano's

own family, who loves and

respects Severiano as much as Chema.

He was like...

another brother for him.

We became the best

couple in the Ryder Cup

thanks to Seve,
purely thanks to Seve.

In the 1987 Ryder Cup,

in the United States, Seve was introduced
as the best player in the world.

And he proved so because Europe
won the Ryder Cup

on American soil for
the first time in 50 years.

ERNIE ELS
WINNER OF 4 MAJORS

Severiano tried to improve his game.

Not because of his back,

but because of the rumour mill
and remarks by

some players and others.

Severiano this and that,

he should improve his technique

and so on...

His swing was altered so much that

my brother had no clue what

to do with the club anymore.

BERNHARD LANGER
TWO-TIME US MASTERS WINNER AT AUGUSTA

My shots were a lot more powerful before.

A lot more.

Is it because you're getting older?

Well, yeah, that too.

But no, it's because I altered my swing.

I used to tilt sideways too much
and it wasn't helping me.

1995 RYDER CUP
OAK HILL COUNTRY CLUB, USA

BERNARD GALLACHER
EUROPEAN RYDER CUP CAPTAIN (1991-1995)

Severiano spoke with Gallagher

and said: ‘Listen, everybody's
written me off.

But let me go first in the
singles competition.

I'll hold my ground for

as long as I can.

That should inspire my teammates

to put up a fight’.

In his first nine holes, Severiano

only hit the ball on the fairway

once and once on the green.

Tom Lehman didn't practically
miss a single shot.

Yet after nine holes, Severiano

was only losing by a single point.

It was totally unbelievable.

He would hit approaches into the cup,

from the bunkers...

It was unbelievable, it was huge.

It's true that he finally

lost the match.
But he held his ground until 16.

It was awesome.

After that game,

Tom Lehman wrote in an article

in a magazine that he had

learnt more that day than

in the many years of his

career as a golfer,
up to that date.

When will Severiano Ballesteros
retire from competition golf?

Humm, well... the day I realize that

I can't win anymore.

But that's rather unlikely.

He won his last singles

tournament in 1995.

It was the Spanish Open.

As soon as it was over,

he told me...

He hadn't even handed
his scorecard in yet.

He said: ‘Merin,

I've racked my

head until it is

about to explode.

This is it, my sporting
career is over’.

What will you do
when you retire?

I've been preparing for the eventuality.

I'm getting ready.
I'd like to design golf courses.

He had a company called Men Corner,

that organised golf tournaments.

And another one, Trajectory,
to design golf courses.

'Sancti Petri, with its magnificent

golf course and lush greens'.

Does Ballesteros dream of

the Ryder Cup coming to Spain?

It's not a dream, not a dream.

It's happening for real.

I mean, I know it for a fact

that the Ryder Cup is coming
to Spain.

I'm telling you.
Take my word for it.

1997 RYDER CUP
VALDERRAMA, SPAIN

Severiano was the prime mover. He was

the one that, somehow, made it possible.

The Ryder Cup left the British

Isles and, most importantly, came to

Spain with him as captain.

I've played it eight times already.
I hope I will compete as a player again.

But since the Ryder Cup is being played in
Spain this time, I think it my duty

to be the captain. I'm very happy.
I feel honoured.

His eye for detail was remarkable.

So much so that he had

analysed the American team

to the tiniest detail and realised

that they had more powerful players

than the European team.

So what did he do?

He placed a 40 metres wide

strip of rough some

250/260 metres

into the fairway,

right in its middle.

He told the European team members:

‘Don't be scared,

I've already beaten them’.

SAM TORRANCE
EUROPEAN RYDER CUP TEAM MEMBER (1981-1995)

He was virtually ubiquitous.

He seemed to be in every match

at the same time.

He'd go everywhere with his buggy.

He would also get very close

to the American players,

to make his presence felt and

somehow put more pressure on them.

SEVE ADMIRED GREAT FIGHTERS A LOT,

SUCH AS MICHAEL JORDAN.

When he found out that Jordan was

coming to Valencia, he said:

CARMELO EZPELETA
MOTOGP CHIEF EXECUTIVE

‘Carmelo,
I didn't pay proper attention to Jordan

when he came to Valderrama because

I was focused on being the captain of

the European team.

But I'd like to
see him again because

I've got the feeling that
I didn't make a good first impression.

Please, tell him that we can go

for a game if he feels like’.

Indeed, finally Jordan

came to Valencia.

When we told Seve he was like:

‘let me arrange a game

at El Saler’.

And so he did.

Michael used to bet on

all his games but Seve

wasn't really into betting.
So Michael went:

‘should we bet?’ and Seve was like:

‘Uh, ah, blimey!...

what's your handicap?’

I believe Michael said

his was 7 and off

they went to play.

They finished the game and

I believe Jordan won.

So Seve lost, maybe,

I don't know, 100 dollars

or 100 euros.

I believe that one of the

toughest moments in his life

was when he made

his mind up to retire.

He had been thinking about it

for a long time, you know.

Even though the word ‘retirement’...

made him sick.

He didn't feel like he could keep going,

already at an early age.

That's why he made up his mind.

Usually, a player of

his age and condition

would still be able

to play golf.

We couldn't get our heads around

the fact that a champion like him

would suddenly announce he was retiring.

He was like: ‘I'm not getting through,

I'm not getting through,

I'm not getting through’.

He couldn't put his finger on it

but he felt like...

his magic wand was missing

from his club bag.

One day it dawned on him

that he'd better walk away

while he could... rather than to

keep dragging himself across golf courses.

Nicklaus retired at 68.

Gary Player is 70 and he keeps playing.

Arnold Palmer is 74 and he keeps playing.

No one is complaining,

no one is censuring
them. Why me?

I've chosen Carnoustie because it

was ideal.

This year's British Open is taking

place there, kicking off tomorrow.
Also, that's where

I first played, in 1975.
That's why I've chosen England.

A LEGEND BIDS FAREWELL

I still remember it clearly.

Severiano would come up

on the screen in the players' tents,

hitting a ball, wherever he was playing

at the moment, and the players

would drop everything and watch.

It's been really difficult to make

my mind up about retiring.

It's been a struggle.

My head was advising me

one thing but my guts

were telling me

something different.

This internal struggle

has been going on for about two years.

I've thought about it long

and hard and I've said to myself:

‘it seems that now

is a good time to

bid farewell’.

This year's British Open

is being held in

Carnoustie and I thought...

‘That's a good place to make

a public announcement’.

So, I went to Scotland,

spoke about the way

I was feeling

and... that was it.

I couldn't picture

him without...

being in a game.

He began considering his
future prospects differently.

Yeah, he had made up his mind.

But it was all thwarted shortly after.

On the 5th of October 2008,

I went to pick Seve up

from the airport.

I waited for a long time
without hearing from him.

He wouldn't phone nor
answer my calls.

At some point I decided to go

inside and went into the airport.

That's when I saw him.

He was walking towards me

with a concerned look on his face.

IVAN BALLESTEROS
SEVE'S NEPHEW

I said: ‘What's happened?’
But he only said: ‘Nothing.

I'll tell you later. Let's get in
the car. I'll explain later’.

First thing I said to him...

I said to Ivan: ‘I'll explain

what's happened in a bit,

because it's no laughing matter’.

I asked him again

in our way from the airport

to the restaurant where we

were having lunch.

When I got off the plane,

I tripped and fell

in the airport escalators.

My leg gave way

beneath me...

I parked the car in front

of the restaurant.

He got off, I turned the engine

off and looked through the

passenger's window. I saw that he was

leaning on another car.

When I got off the car,

the same thing happened again.

He stared at me. I'll never

forget the look on his face.

I was worried. I got off the car,

got behind him and placed my hands on

his shoulders. I said: ‘Are you okay?’

As soon as I did that

he let himself go
and collapsed on me.

I got a bit dizzy

and fell on the car.

So I said: ‘let's go to a hospital’.

But he refused,
he didn't want to.

I didn't want to. I said:

‘It's no big deal. I'm fine.

Let's have a nice

thick steak for lunch

and I'll feel better’.

No way, we had go to a hospital!

Long story short,
we went to La Paz Hospital.

We went in to see a doctor

and then I waited there for

three or four hours.

A nurse finally came out and

broke the news to me.

Seve had a brain tumour.

We are still waiting to hear about

Severiano Ballesteros condition.

He was admitted to Hospital

de La Paz in Madrid on Monday,

after feeling dizzy

and losing consciousness.

I went to Madrid straight away.

I got to the hospital and

went into the ICU.

He was conscious and aware.

He was fine, relatively speaking.

Except for his past

dizziness and the rest...

The ICU nurse

offered me a pill to

calm down my nerves.

It was the head of ICU

who broke the news to me and
my son Ivan.

My world fell apart right there.

I flew to Madrid the next day

and spent two months in La Paz

by his side. He then was

discharged and we came back home.

I used to live in San Roque

but moved in with him and

spent two years,

seven months and two days

by my brother's side.

To be honest, I would have never

imagined that someone like him

could come down with

such a condition.

I must admit, it was

devastating, such a tragedy...

The doctors looked

into my head and

that's when I began

to worry.

I was like... what the heck?

Imagine, I was happily going

for a nice steak at a restaurant

and 15 minutes later,
out of the blue,

doctors tell me that

I'm having brain surgery.

I was scared.

I said: ‘doctor, I'm OK

with the surgery only

if it's very likely

to have a positive outcome.

But if it's very risky

and I'm going to

end up worse off,

I'd rather not.

I don't want to suffer

as much as my father did

in the end’.

He was very weak at first.

When he left hospital
he was very weak.

Bear in mind that he had spent

more than two months in an induced coma.

He had undergone brain surgery four times.

I think he only pulled through
because he was very strong.

He would go to the gym he had at home

and walk around the swimming pool.

He used to say that

he had taken thousands of

laps around the swimming pool.

He used to row as well.

All within his

limitations, obviously.

He did everything in his hand

to... to get better.

He recovered fairly quickly at first.

In 2009 I went
to Santander.

I gave him a ring and said:

‘Seve, mate, how are you?’

‘Where are you?’, he asked.

‘Here, at El Sardinero’.

He said: ‘Ok, meet me at four

o'clock, at hole one tee’.

He had had a small golf course

built at home and
three or four years earlier

he had promised me that

JORGE ANDREU
PHOTOGRAPHER

one day we'd play on it together,
as I had designed it for him.

We went to the room where

he kept his clubs. He had some ten

or fifteen wedges and he said:

'Which one do you want?’ I asked back:

'Which one are you having?’ He said:

‘this one’, so I said: ‘I'll

have it then’. He was like:

‘What a smart arse you are! OK,

fair enough, I'll get the other one’.

‘It must be the good one, the one I got,

right?’, I said. And he replied: ‘no,

I've got the good one in the end,

because I knew exactly what you were

going to say, so yours is worse now’.

He can't stand losing,
not even at ludo.

Really good.

Great, mate!

Great ball.

Damn!... You hit it
out of bounds!

We played with
a broken tee.

I'm giving you this tee
for the second time.

I said: ‘Seve, mate,

this tee is broken’.

‘Never mind’, he said.

‘You have to play golf with whatever

you have. Take it or leave it’.

Okay, but I wanted to
squeeze it a bit.

In golf, as in any other sport,

you have to take any advantage

that the game may offer.

Yes, sir! You're absolutely right.

I don't mind being right,
I want you to do it.

It was a wonderful afternoon.

Seve and I played side by side.

It was amazing, awesome.

He taught me to hit wedge shots.

Right foot, open face...

That's it, that's it, a little

higher, that's it, good.

The ball closer to the

right foot, that's it.

Oh, I see, I see.

Now, smash it,

that's it.

I will never forget it.

At some point, there was only

one possible outcome.

He improved at first

but then he

got worse again.

When this happened, doctors

said there was nothing

else they could do.

Severiano always called me Merin.

Merin this... Merin that...

Merin whatever...

Merin do this,

we have to do that...

When he was ill

he began to call me brother.

We shared some difficult

but very meaningful moments

in his final years.

I've got

mixed feelings
about them.

It was hard, but at the same time

it was... special, unique.

There were instances in his house...

For instance, I remember

the time when we were watching

the last day of the British Open at

Turnberry. Tom Watson came close

to winning at 59 years of age.

We were watching all the shots

and he suddenly got up

from the couch and started

doing push-ups.

And he said: ‘listen, Jose Maria,

I have to get fit again, I have to get

strong, I have to get well’.

I was driving to my place

after leaving the house

and I couldn't stop thinking,

throughout the two-hours long drive,

about what we had

experienced in the afternoon.

I couldn't but think that a chapter

in history was about to end...

MAY 7th 2011

I was already playing

in the US by then.

That's where we learnt about the news.

I was playing at hole 9 in a

tournament in the United States,

ready to hit second shot.

Suddenly, the horn went off.

Usually, that means the game has to stop,

either suspended or whatever.

So the horn was sounded.

‘But it's sunny’, I kept wondering.

‘But that's not possible!’ One tends

to think that people like him can't die,
right?

That they never die.

Seve's funeral took place
on May 11th 2011.

True, Seve used to say

that he wanted to

depart this world

alone.

He used to say: ‘I came to this world

on my own, I want to leave it on my own’.

However, that was plainly impossible.

The funeral was sad but

at the same time

it filled me with joy.

Mainly because of what I saw and

because of the crowd in attendance.

There were caddies, players...

It was a symbolic representation

of Severiano's strength,

of his charisma, of what he did

for this sport,

of all the love he received,

despite the many rows

he had with the

PGA, with the European

Tour, with referees.

He used to like magnolia trees a lot.

He planted a magnolia tree
in his garden. It's now grown to be huge.

That's where he wanted

his ashes to rest.

He fought really hard, like

really, really hard yet

he never complained.

I never heard him say:

‘listen, I'm fucked up’.

No, no, no, no.

I think he was very brave,
no doubt about it.

Very brave!

I don't know if I'd be able
to bear it like he did...

Anyone who thinks he
enjoyed a life full

of luxuries, money and that
is wrong,

totally wrong.

Seve was happy on a golf course

no matter how good or bad his game was.

The golf course was...

his habitat.

I've only had one love in my

life and that is golf.

I've felt real passion

for golf.

I took it with me

wherever I'd go.

If I went to the cinema,

I'd be thinking about golf.

I'd go to bed

and think about golf.

3 BRITISH OPEN

2 GREEN JACKETS

5 WORLD MATCH PLAY

5 RYDER CUPS

2 WORLD CUPS

91 TOURNAMENTS IN FIVE CONTINENTS

EVEN ONE MORE, THE 92ND, AFTER LEAVING US.

It's difficult to explain

what we lived through during that week.

2012 RYDER CUP
MEDINAH, USA

What happened in Medinah

had never happened before

in the history of the Ryder Cup.

At a certain point on Saturday
afternoon, we had virtually

no chance of winning the Ryder Coup.

What happened on Sunday

was short of a miracle.

I don't know who was flying those planes.

I'm pretty sure there

had to be more than one, in order to

write that message across the sky.

I don't know, and I don't

think I'll ever find out.

But I want to thank them,

because they made

something very special

possible on

that Sunday.

We began putting into the cup

from every angle, approaches from

every distance...

We began to win matches.

We made an

amazing comeback.

In the end, we managed to

win the Ryder Cup, even though

the Americans had

already celebrated their victory

on Saturday night.

Considering the way we hit
approaches into the cup,

I believe he was
somehow involved.

it was present
at Medinah,

and it helped

us a lot.