Google News
"Forever in our hearts" is the moving message of a banner hoisted on the green of the Marco Simone golf and country club on the occasion of the event in memory of the Spanish champion Severiano Ballesteros who died in 2011 leaving an indelible memory in the world of this sport and beyond Alone.
"Seve" is considered one of the strongest golfers of all time and this morning as the morning matches of the Ryder Cup in Rome began he was remembered by one of his three sons and the other Iberian golf champion José María Olazábal .
Ryder Cup, results
Roma central defender Chris Smalling is also among the thousands of spectators watching this morning's matches on the Gudonia green. Severiano "Seve" Ballesteros Sota (Marina de Cudeyo, 9 April 1957 – Marina de Cudeyo, 7 May 2011) was a Spanish golfer, at the top of the world rankings for several decades.
He showed off on the international circuit in 1976, when at the age of 19 he took second place at the British Open. The descendant of a family of talented golfers, Ballesteros won a major five times between 1979 and 1988, including the Masters twice.
He also achieved notable success in the Ryder Cup, helping the European team win five times, both as a player and as captain. During the nineties Ballesteros struggled to maintain an acceptable state of shape due to repeated back problems; nevertheless he continued to be active in the golf scene by creating the Seve Trophy and undertaking the activity of course designer.
He finally retired from competition in 2007. Born in Pedreña, a seaside resort in Marina de Cudeyo in Cantabria, he learned to play on the beaches near his home, mainly using a 3-iron club that had been given to him by one of his older brothers.
His uncle Ramón Sota had also been a professional player, four times Spanish champion and 6th place in the 1965 Masters. His older brother Manuel was among the top 100 players on the European Tour consecutively from 1972 to 1983 and later became his coach.
The other two brothers Vicente and Baldomero and his nephew Raúl were also professional golfers. Ballesteros turned professional in March 1974 at the age of just 16. In 1976 he exploded onto the international scene by placing second in the British Open played at Royal Birkdale Golf Club.
After the third round Ballesteros led by two strokes, but a final round of 74 meant he finished tied for second with Jack Nicklaus, a six shots behind the winner Johnny Miller. In that year he won the European Tour Order of Merit, a title he would win six times in total during his career.
Having also obtained it for the following two years represented a record for the time, a record which was later broken by Colin Montgomerie.