Spain went into mourning for its greatest sportsman on Saturday after golfing legend Severiano Ballesteros lost a three-year battle against brain cancer and died, aged 54, in his home town of Pedreña, near Santander.
“Seve Ballesteros passed away peacefully surrounded by his family at his home in Pedreña, due to respiratory problems,” his family said.
News that the greatest European golfer in history had died shocked a country which only belatedly realised it had spawned a global sporting genius, and where Ballesteros single-handedly turned golf into a major sport. His home region of Cantabria immediately announced three days of official mourning. “He had amazing charisma. He was a self-made man and there has never been anyone else quite like him,” said regional president Miguel Angel Revilla of the golfer who started as a child caddie for local aristocrats and the privileged few who played golf in 1970s Spain.
Spaniards had kept a nervous watch on Ballesteros’s health ever since he survived a dramatic series of operations to remove a brain tumour in 2008, a year after retiring from professional golf.
“During my whole career I have been one of the best at overcoming obstacles on a golf course,” he said before the first operation. “And now, with all my strength, I want to be the best at confronting the most difficult game of my life.”
Friends said Ballesteros’s health slowly deteriorated in the months before his death. In recent days rumours had spread of a serious turn for the worse. He chose to spend his final days at his home on Spain’s northern Atlantic coast, close to the golf course where he once practised secretly on moonlit nights as a boy.
Family and close friends, including golfer José MarÃa Olazábal, kept his worsening health secret until Friday, when Olazábal shed tears on the green of the 17th hole at the Real Club de Golf El Prat in Terrasa, eastern Spain, during the second round of the Spanish Open.
In the three years since he left hospital, the golfer had launched the Seve Ballesteros Foundation, dedicated — among other things — to raising funds for Cancer Research UK. He had also been the subject of numerous homages in Spain and abroad: outgoing US Masters champion Phil Mickelson chose a Spanish menu in honour of Ballesteros at his ceremonial dinner in Augusta in April. “It’s a sad day — [I’ve] lost an inspiration, genius, role model, hero and friend,” the world’s number one player, Lee Westwood, wrote on Twitter yesterday. “Seve made European golf what it is today. RIP Seve.”
‘He’s one of the greats of this country’
With his three victories in the British Open and two US Masters titles, as well as his inspirational perfomances in Europe’s Ryder Cup wins, Ballesteros was the precursor of a current generation of successful Spanish sportsmen that includes the country’s World Cup-winning soccer team and Wimbledon tennis champion Rafa Nadal. Nadal yesterday described Ballesteros as a “reference point” for Spanish athletes: “He’s one of the greats of this country, without a doubt.”
Ballesteros was initially more of a hero in Britain than at home, where golf was a minority sport. The boom provoked by his victories means Spain now has 330Â 000 amateur players and can boast a clutch of world-class golfers including Olazabal and Sergio GarcÃa.
Ballesteros considered Britain, where he first won international glory, as a golfing home from home. He died without being able to witness one of his dreams being realised: the inclusion of golf as an Olympic sport in 2016.
The flags at Real Club de Golf El Prat were at half mast on Saturday, while players in the Spanish Open wore black ribbons and observed a minute’s silence. “Seve’s unique legacy must be the inspiration he has given to so many to watch, support, and play golf, and finally to fight a cruel illness with equal flair, passion, and fierce determination,” European Tour chief executive George O’Grady said. “We have all been blessed to live in his era.” – guardian.co.uk