Legend of the legends, Seve Ballesteros – Golf feature
The five-time major champion Seve Ballesteros, who is lauded as one of the best players the game of golf has ever produced, left his fans alone while fighting with cancer.
Ballesteros started playing golf in a small village in Northern Spain and soon rose to prominence and started dominating the sport in Europe.
Dashing and audacious from the outset, Ballesteros had been impressive throughout his career, racking up 91 victories around the world – out of which 50 came on the European Tour, most by any golfer in the history.
Given his remarkable performances in different parts of the world, he is regarded as the legend of the legends, in the world of golf.
In 1980, he became the first European player in the history to secure a victory in the Masters Tournament – a feat that he achieved again three years later at the Augusta National Golf Club.
He also won The Open Championship in 1979, 1984 and 1988, two of which came at the prestigious Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, the same venue for the 2012 edition of the event.
So far, no other player in the history of the sport succeeded in winning the Open title more than once at the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club.
Lawson Little, one of the best amateur golfers the land of America has ever produced, once said that the player who wins a major championship is the one who hits bad shots in the best possible manner. Ballesteros’s was the man who provided proof to the statement
Lawson gave.
In 1979, he kept on zigzagging on the course by hitting shots from rough, spectator areas, and bunkers and even landing the ball in the car park.
The 70th hole of The Open Championship witnessed him launching the ball into the parking lot, which led Hale Irwin to name him as the “Car Park Champion”.
Throughout the week, he only managed to hit nine fairways, which can be considered as a poor performance. However, he did not let his poor driving technique to overhaul his overall game.
As a result, he secured a three-stroke victory over Ben Crenshaw and Jack Nicklaus. He was the only player to finish the week with an under-par score.
In contrast to his performance in 1979, he returned to the same venue in 1988 and impressed his fans with a stunning display of the game.
The highlight of his performance included a six-under par 65 in the final round, which allowed him surpass Zimbabwe’s Nick Price, to the top of the leaderboard.
“To win The Open at St Andrews is the dream of every professional golfer”, he wrote in his official autobiography. “But my best round at The Open — perhaps even the best round of my entire career — wasn’t at St Andrews in 1984. It was that fantastic round
of 65 with which I finished to win once again at Royal Lytham four years later”.
He added, “It was incredible. At one point, I was six under par for six holes but held the lead by only one stroke (because) Nick Price was on top form too”.
The golf commentators believe that such a talent is hard to find, and he will be missed by the game lovers for years to come.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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