Ballesteros sets comeback date

Seve Ballesteros claimed today he is hoping to play in next month’s Madrid Open.

It would be his first tournament for 23 months.

The 48-year-old, in Britain this week for the Seve Trophy match at The Wynyard in County Durham, feared last year that his career might be over because of an arthritic back.

But he has claimed he has been practising hard and added: “My swings feels good, physically I’m in good shape and I feel optimistic.”

Ballesteros’ last appearance was as captain of the Continental Europe team in the Seve Trophy in Spain in November 2003.

He lost all his four games, including a five and four singles defeat to opposing captain Colin Montgomerie, to continue a sad slump in which he has not made a halfway cut in a major since the 1996 Masters.

He fell outside Europe’s top 200 in 2001 by making only five cuts from 19 starts and dropped further down the rankings the following two seasons before quitting the scene altogether.

Ballesteros will be at The Wynyard as tournament host, having handed over the captaincy to his former Ryder Cup partner Jose Maria Olazabal.