Seve and Ireland – love at first sight

SEVERIANO Ballesteros knew as soon as he set foot in Ireland for the first time in 1976 that he would love the country and that the affection would be returned a thousand fold.

The Irish people couldn’t get enough of a man who hit the most unbelievable shots from the craziest of places with an unfathomable sense of belief in his own ability. He repaid their respect and admiration by coming over whenever he could and turning on the incomparable Ballesteros charm and style. There was always the Irish Open each year but in truth, any old excuse was good enough for Seve to drop by!

The Carrolls Irish Open was in its hey-day when he first played the championship at Portmarnock in 1976. He was only 21 but he was devilishly handsome and already a genius with a golf club in his hands. His charismatic personality lit up every scene wherever he went as he executed a series of remarkable shots that helped him into fifth place behind the American winner Ben Crenshaw.

When the tournament moved to Druids Glen in Co Wicklow in the late 1990s, he made the Glenview Hotel his headquarters. He, wife Carmen and the kids came down for breakfast at much the same time each morning but rarely had time to concentrate on their meals. Instead, they had their hands full controlling the boys Baldomero and Miguel and daughter Carmen. To say they were right little devils would be an understatement but their antics didn’t bother Seve. He would just shrug his shoulders and say something like, “I cannot control them” — but when Seve Ballesteros acknowledged you, somehow you felt very special.

The love affair that had been kindled somewhat quietly in that first Irish Open in 76 simmered along nicely for a few years as Seve captured the first of his three British Open Championships at Royal Lytham in 1979 and the Masters at Augusta in 1980. A second green jacket in 83 set him up nicely for his next appearance in our national championship later that year. He duly won the title for the first time at Royal Dublin and regained it over the Dollymount links in 85, a triumph that gave him special satisfaction.

Bernhard Langer, a keen rival at the time, set the championship alight on the final day with a spectacular course record of 63 but Ballesteros birdied three of the last four to draw level and beat the German at the second extra hole by sinking an outrageous 40-foot birdie putt in front of tens of thousands of wildly excited spectators.

And he was back in 1986 to retain the title at Portmarnock.

That he was a golfing genius goes without saying. Some of the tributes paid to him over the past day or two might have seemed over the top in describing other legendary figures. Not so where Severiano Ballesteros was concerned.

“Seve was the greatest show on earth”, said Nick Faldo, a man with whom he didn’t always see eye to eye. “What impressed me most about Seve was his fighting spirit and the passion he put into everything,” said Jose-Maria Olazabal.

Ballesteros was often murderously hard on his coaches, whom he used to drop like hot cakes, and his caddies, and yet one of the best and longest serving, Billy Foster, admitted that, “I loved him like my big brother”.

Like everyone else, he could fly off the handle and then some and very frequently any journalist in the wrong place at the wrong time felt the full force of his venom. But when their paths crossed the next time, it was as if there had never been a cross word!

Ballesteros may not have won as many major titles as contemporaries like Faldo or Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, who came just before him, and Tiger Woods, who followed shortly afterwards. However, with the possible exception of Palmer, none excited the galleries or earned their affection and admiration more than Seve. He had unbelievable charisma, was incredibly handsome, could be hugely entertaining while also capable of quite terrifying rages and tantrums. He fell out with the European Tour over appearance money so badly that they wouldn’t pick him in the 1981 Ryder Cup team and he was frequently at odds with the USGA and the US PGA Tour. And one very good reason why he never captured a US Open or PGA Championship was because he never quite felt at home in the States.

Ballesteros won five major championships, two Masters and three British Opens. He had 50 European Tour titles on his CV, not including five World Match Plays. There were 30 other tournaments worldwide — and then there was the Ryder Cup!

HE was at his greatest whencontinental golfers wereallowed to compete for the first time in 1979. From the first of his eight appearances as a player, the bi-annual match seemed to matter more to him than even his successes in the majors. He discovered a wonderful partner in Olazabal, who was to be an admirable foil for Seve. They formed the most successful partnership, winning 11, halving 2 and losing only 2 of their matches together. Individually, Ballesteros claimed 20 points from 37 matches and his lust for more and more European success was never more evident than when he captained the side to victory at Valderrama in 1997.

And yet, in spite of his many achievements, it may well be as a sensational shotmaker that Severiano Ballesteros will be best remembered. Those of us fortunate to have been around when he was in his pomp will have their favourites.

Those with especially long memories will recall a chip shot at the final green in the 1976 British Open Championship at Royal Birkdale that somehow made its way from thick rough down through the narrowest of gaps between two fearsome bunkers to within a yard of the flag swear this was the greatest. They called it “the shot that rang around the world”.

As we have seen, the relationship between Ballesteros and the Americans was often fraught but even they could see the genius in the man. On the way to winning the 1983 Masters, he started the final round birdie, eagle, par, birdie. The eagle at the second was the product of a four wood of 245 yards from a downhill lie that somehow held the shallow putting surface, causing Tom Kite to comment: “Heck, I can’t stop a pitching wedge from that lie. The rest of us chasing Seve were like a bunch of Chevrolets chasing a Ferrari.”

The Americans dubbed him the “car park champion” after his first Open victory at Lytham in 1979 and to be honest, they did have to move a vehicle so that he could play his second to the 15th on the final day. He pitched to 20 feet, holed the putt for birdie and the Spanish conquistador went on to win!

In 1980, he captured his first Green Jacket at Augusta. Another followed in 1983 but he was also to suffer unbearable frustration in the land of the azalea and dogwood.

Like when he finished runner-up to Bernhard Langer in 1985 and in a play-off won by Larry Mize three years later. Even worse was 1986 when he left the door open for Nicklaus to win his sixth Masters at the age of 46 with a mistake at the 15th.

In victory or defeat, though, we loved Seve for what he was, a magnificent golfer and remarkable personality. The game will be all the poorer without his amazing presence.