Seve Ballesteros won 90 times around the world and more times than anyone in the history of the European Tour. There were five Major successes and he was the heartbeat of the European Ryder Cup team for a decade, something that has carried on to the present day.
But that barely scratches the surface. No golfer has touched the hearts of the European golf fan more and he's adored all around the world. His style of play was like nobody else, with a short game from the gods, and he had the film-star looks to light up the back pages. We were lucky to witness true greatness.
1986 TROPHEE LANCOME
Seve and Bernhard Langer had plenty of head-to-heads as they spearheaded the European challenge around the world in the mid 80s. Only once did Ballesteros share a title and this came on the outskirts of Paris when he and the German could not be separated after 72 holes and still after four further holes of a play-off. In the middle of October, with darkness descending, it was decided that the trophy would be split between the two titans.
1992 DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC
Dubai has become a stronghold of European golf this century but Seve's win here in 1992, the 45th of his half century on his home tour, came in just the third staging of the event. In very different surrounds the Spaniard tied with Ronan Rafferty and then pitched and putted at the second play-off hole, the iconic 18th at the Emirates, to walk off with the enormous trophy. He would finish the year in 28th spot on the money list.
2023 RYDER CUP
On the Saturday morning in Rome a huge tifo was unfurled with a portrait of Ballesteros to mark the legend's contribution to the competition. The display, which would cover the two stands, had the quote 'Per sempre nei nostri cuori' - 'always in our hearts.' On hand to witness this were Seve's son, Javier, Jose Maria Olazabal and Luke Donald. It was both a fitting gesture to the great man as well as another sign of Donald's outstanding captaincy.
1994 BENSON & HEDGES INTERNATIONAL OPEN
Seve hadn't won a tournament in over two years and Cornwall in May seemed an unlikely venue to overturn this winless run. Added to that the Jack Nicklaus-designed course at St Mellion was renowned as being tricky to score on as well as tough on the body. Four days later the Spaniard had waltzed to a three-shot win over Nick Faldo. Around this time his career was given a lift by the swing coach Mac O'Grady.
2012 RYDER CUP
This was the first Ryder Cup after the passing of Seve and we also had Jose Maria Olazabal as the European skipper. There would be logos of Seve on the bag and on the players' Sunday blue sweaters as the visitors memorably turned around a 10-6 deficit at Medinah. "Seve will always be present. Last night when we were having that meeting, I think the boys understood that believing was the most important thing, and I think they did," explained Olazabal.
1987 US OPEN
Seve would feature in 18 US Opens but only once would he finish inside the top three. At Olympic Club in San Francisco Ballesteros would end the first day just one off the lead and was still in the hunt after a Saturday 68 but he would then be undone. Seve was right in it after a third birdie in five holes but there would then come a stumble as Scott Simpson added three straight birdies and he would finish six back.
1991 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Bizarrely, given his World Match Play heroics over the West Course, Seve would only win one strokeplay event at Wentworth. His victory in 1983 came at Royal St George's, a year before the move to the Burma Road. Ballesteros landed the flagship event on what was then called the Volvo Tour with a magnificent iron shot in a play-off with Colin Montgomerie. 'Be right, be right please...' It finished a couple of feet away.
1976 DUTCH OPEN
Seve was just 19 when he claimed his breakthrough win. He had already dazzled at Birkdale and was then third in both Sweden and Switzerland. At Kennemer Golf & Country Club he lapped the field, with Howard Clark in a distant second. “I will never forget it, I told my caddie, ‘One week we will win the tournament’. We go to Dutch and I win the tournament by eight shots. I have a very nice feeling, the first victory is always to remember.”
1995 RYDER CUP
With Jose Maria Olazabal injured, Seve would need a new partner in what would turn out to be his final match. In stepped the unlikely figure of David Gilford who was as quiet as Ballesteros was passionate. In the opening fourballs there would have been an American whitewash had it not been for Seve and Gilford's point – the smile on the Englishman's face that afternoon was one of the sights of the week.
2000 SEVE TROPHY
Seve was ranked 590th in the world, Colin Montgomerie was No. 3 when the two captains lined up against one another at the inaugural Seve Trophy at Sunningdale. Ballesteros's game was gone, he would only play one of the opening three matches, but he would claim a brilliant victory. "This was a point we felt was secure. We felt 85 per cent certain that I would win that game and I haven’t,” as Monty went the same way as many others.
1976 OPEN
Seve threatened to go wire-to-wire at Birkdale and become the youngest Major winner since Young Tom Morris – at the time he had yet to win on tour. Things would finally hit the skids when he trebled the 11th but, with Johnny Miller's encouragement, he came to the last needing a birdie to share second with Jack Nicklaus. He bumped the ball between the two greenside bunkers with a shot that is rightly replayed again and again.
1984 OPEN
Seve had struggled with the Old Course's 17th all week but he would play one of his most memorable iron shots to help land probably his most famous win. A 6-iron from the left rough found a small parcel of green at St Andrews' Road Hole which gave him his first par of the week. Moments later Tom Watson would sail the green as the Spaniard coaxed home THAT putt on the last.
1995 RYDER CUP
After seven holes of the singles Tom Lehman hadn't missed a fairway or a green, Seve hadn't found a fairway. But the match was still all square. Ballesteros chipped in on 2, got up and down from everywhere and he would eventually shake hands at the 15th. If ever a team needed a message to fight for everything this was it. "I only played three matches and I hit three fairways. I cleaned all the rough and all the branches," said Seve.
1995 SPANISH OPEN
Seve would finish his career with 50 wins on tour and his final victory came on home soil in Madrid. It would be signed off with a trademark big finish, kicked off by a birdie at the 14th. “I suddenly seemed to have wings and at the next hole my sand wedge shot left the ball a metre and half from the pin for another birdie. I played practically the same shot at the 18th.” He was only 38 at the time.
1995 IRISH OPEN
Seve would win three Irish Opens and the middle one was a true thing of beauty. At the second play-off hole Langer, who closed with a 63, left his putt from distance just short. Ballesteros stepped up and knocked in a putt from fully 35 feet which was greeted by one of his all-time celebrations; a one-two boxing routine which even brought a smile to Langer's face. Two months earlier the German had edged out Seve at Augusta.
1984 OPEN
Seve and Lee Trevino were always an entertaining pairing and this is one of the most viewed clips on social media. They were paired at St Andrews with Seve facing a downhill long iron to the par-5 5th. If you've never seen this before, watch this. If you have, watch it again. Seve would of course go on to win that year, Trevino would finish in a tie for 14th. When you're on YouTube also look up a One Club Challenge with these two. Touch of class.
1985 RYDER CUP
If Europe were to ever win the Ryder Cup again they would need a fully-firing Seve. He would win 3.5/5 but his manner did plenty more. At The Belfry's 10th hole he would repeatedly find the par-4 green with a cut-up driver that would send the home crowds wild. Europe had the best player in the world at the time and everybody adored him. A plaque marks the spot where he first managed it back in 1978.
1991 RYDER CUP
Paul Azinger and Chip Beck vs Seve and Jose Maria Olazabal remains one of the juiciest matches ever and it came on the first morning at Kiawah Island. There were squabbles over a drop, lost ball and famously what compression ball the Americans were using. Things came to a head on the 10th tee, with the hosts three up, but then back came the Europeans to triumph 2&1 – "That was probably the best nine holes we ever played together," said Seve.
1980 MASTERS
A first European success at Augusta National and he did it in some style. The record books say it was a four-shot victory but Seve was actually 10 clear heading into the back nine. There would be trips to the water at 12 and 13 but, with the lead down to three shots, a birdie at the 15th steadied any wobbles. By the year 2000 there would have been 11 Europeans to have slipped themselves into a Green Jacket.
2006 OPEN
Seve would play in 28 Opens and this would be his final one, he would sign off from the Majors at the following year's Masters. He hadn't played at all during the previous two seasons and his last start had been a pair of 81s in France. The scores (74-77) barely mattered, this was a chance to bid a final farewell to the British galleries who had taken him to their hearts 30 years previously. And to do it with his son, Javier, by his side.
1987 MASTERS
Seve's record at Augusta during the 80s was something else and it could have been sensational. There was the dumped 4-iron in '86 and the following year he would lose his only play-off in Georgia. Ballesteros had birdied 17 to make the extra holes but he would then three-putt the 10th. The sight of him trudging back up the hill is a sad one but it did save him from what Larry Mize would do minutes later.
WORLD MATCH PLAY
From 1981 to '91 Seve would win the Match Play five times. There are many mano-a-mano phrases that have been re-told about Seve and he would likely walk into anyone's top five of match players with his incredible scrambling skills and ability to hole a crucial putt. Interestingly he never lost a final at Wentworth, twice beating Bernhard Langer. Ernie Els would go on to win this title seven times before it was sadly discontinued.
1983 RYDER CUP
There's no footage of one of Seve's greatest ever shots to the fringe of the 18th green. It made his opponent, Fuzzy Zoeller, blink. The Guardian's Dai Davies wrote: “I was at a loss to see what he was doing. The ball was halfway up the face of the bunker and it dawned that he was actually going to play the shot with a 3-wood. It seemed suicidal, almost signalling that he was fed up with the whole affair.”
1979 OPEN
Seve would be dubbed the 'Car Park Champion' after visiting parts of Lytham not normally associated with a new Major winner. Some of this is exaggerated but he did only hit two fairways in his final 36 holes. On the upside he visited the sand 15 times and he would get up and down on all but one occasion. Ballesteros would shoot one of only four under-par scores in the final round.
1997 RYDER CUP
Little did we know but Seve's victorious captaincy at Valderrama would begin a run of home wins that remains intact today. Every player would contribute at least a point and the skipper would prove to be a very hands-on leader, frequently offering advice on any shot. A five-point lead would end with a one-point victory after Ballesteros conceded Scott Hoch's 15-footer on the last as Colin Montgomerie moved into the role of European talisman.
1983 MASTERS
This was the first year that players were able to use their own caddies but it mattered little as Seve took charge on Masters Sunday (except it was the Monday due to the weather). A birdie-eagle start saw him out in 31 and he never looked back as none of Craig Stadler, Ray Floyd nor Tom Watson broke par. Seve would air-mail the final green before chipping in for par. It would be his final Green Jacket and he was only 26.
1993 EUROPEAN MASTERS
One of Seve's most revered shots as he ignored caddie Billy Foster's advice, an eight-foot wall, a collection of trees and a swimming pool at Crans. After five straight birdies he would somehow fashion a recovery just short of the green from where he would chip in. “I had to get down on my hands and knees and bow to him,” Foster recalled. “Seve Ballesteros, you are the best that ever lived.” Lesser known is that Barry Lane would triumph by a stroke.
1986 MASTERS
Seve was four ahead of Jack Nicklaus when he eagled 13 but the Golden Bear would come home in 30 to get to -9. The Spaniard's undoing came at the 15th, which Nicklaus had eagled, as he played an easy 4-iron rather than a hard 5 and his ball ended up wet. “It was not a nice sound. People were yelling at me, ‘It's in the water! It’s in the water!’ and I'm thinking, I know that,” explained Nicklaus.
1987 RYDER CUP
For many European fans this was as good as it gets with the United States losing for the first time ever on home soil and on the course that their captain Jack Nicklaus had built. Seve was in inspired form, winning three points from four in his new partnership with Jose Maria Olazabal, before being sent out in the unaccustomed 10th spot in the singles. As it transpired he would hole the winning putt as he sunk Curtis Strange 2&1.
1988 OPEN
This was the first time that The Open had finished on a Monday and it will go down as one of the great days in the Championship's history. Three of the greats – Seve, Nick Faldo and Nick Price – all in the final threeball and nobody else near them. In the end it came down to a shoot-out between Seve (65) and Price and a delicious chip at the 72nd hole finally got the job done.
1987 RYDER CUP
“Seve gave me a call when I was 15 and asked me to play a charity match against him at his home club, Pedrena,” recalled Jose Maria Olazabal. “I said ‘Yes’ without knowing the implications of that answer. Something really special happened that day, I don’t know what it was but it was truly special." They would play their first match together at Muirfield Village ending with a record of P15 W11 H2 L2.
1984 OPEN
If we had to single out one win, just one, it would likely be this. It came at the Home of Golf, he would edge out Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer and his 72nd-hole fist-pumping celebration – 'la meti!' (I put it in!) – has been copied and enjoyed ever since. And then there was the iconic navy blue Slazenger V-neck sweater that any self-respecting Seve fan will have had in their wardrobe at some point.
