Gentleman Phil proves class is permanent

I DON’T know what you had for your dinner last night but I, for one, was not served up a four-course delight of Spanish cuisine of which Filete de Res Mignon Pimento Ahumado Demi Glace was the high point.

Then again, I’m not a Masters champion and so don’t have Phil Mickelson doing my ordering. Those select few who were at Augusta National last evening and were treated, as is the tradition, to the defending champion’s choice of menu, heard Mickelson use the opportunity to pay tribute to one of the former winners who could not be there.

Two-time champion Seve Ballesteros, the swashbuckling Spaniard, was at home in his native Cantabria, where he is dealing with the brain cancer that has left him unable to travel. His loss to the game, even as a mere presence at such events, is heartfelt and Mickelson should be applauded for his tribute, however trivial it may seem, in laying on the gazpacho and paella, the beef tenderloin with manchango cheese and the Spanish apple pie.

We golf lovers in Europe, from the professionals to the hackers, revere Ballesteros and claim him for ourselves. Seve’s name and memory was invoked frequently by Colin Montgomerie as a motivational tool for his Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor last October as Europe sought to win back the famous little trophy from the United States. The man himself spoke to the team in an emotional conference call a couple of days before the first day of competition in Wales and when victory was secured, Ian Poulter dedicated the European win not just to his captain, but to Seve.

‘Our Seve’, though, is everybody’s Seve and the impact the Spaniard has made on the world of golf through his magical play was brought intro sharp focus yesterday by Mickelson, who spoke with genuine affection for the golfer who inspired him.

“At 17, he was the guy I wanted to play with,” Mickelson said. “I got into my first PGA Tour event, the San Diego Open, and was able to get a practice round with him, set up by a friend of ours, Ernie Gonzalez.

“He was the classiest gentleman to me. From that day on and the rest of my career he has been the nicest guy and supportive and been nothing but class to me.

“Because here is a guy I looked up to as a kid, watched the way he played and loved the way he played and was drawn in by his charisma and he didn’t let me down at all. He was every bit the gentleman I thought he was and more and I just want to let him know that we are thinking of him.”

Mickelson said that sentiment was shared by his fellow champions, who last night included Ballesteros’s compatriot Jose Maria Olazabal, the two-time champion returning this week after missing last year’s event due to his ongoing problems with rheumatism.

“All of the past champions are really thinking about Seve,” Mickelson said. “Honouring Seve is easy and no big deal but I just want him to know that we all wish he was here and we are thinking about him, so we are just having a little Spanish cuisine tonight.”

For a big guy, Mickelson can be a sentimental old fool at times but his words about Ballesteros were heartfelt and meaningful. He talked in similar terms about what Augusta National and the Masters meant to him, and how driving down Magnolia Lane to the clubhouse always re-energised him in his love of golf.

He’s a classy guy is Phil, and that impression is magnified when he gets his turn in the media room ahead of his arch rival Tiger Woods. Yesterday was insightful for that reason too.

“Driving down Magnolia Lane is just looking at some trees really,” Woods said coldly when told of Mickelson’s words.

The former world number one went on to say it was the golf course itself that did it for him, that excited him, which was a valid explanation. Yet it made one consider, whenever the day comes and both Woods and Mickelson’s day is done, which one would be missed more in the manner that Ballesteros’s absence is felt?

Woods, for all his current woes on and off the golf course, is likely to still have more to show for his career in the history books than Mickelson.

Yet for this writer, Woods could win another 14 majors, never mind the four he seeks to get to the all-time record held by Jack Nicklaus, and still not be held in the esteem that Mickelson will be.

Not just because Lefty chose some Spanish food for tea and talks about the trees but because his class and demeanour at all times in the public eye speaks of the gentlemanly ways that so impressed him about Seve.

And if Ballesteros showed Mickelson the way in that regard, then that’s another very good reason to raise a glass of rioja and chow down on some paella.