Severiano Ballesteros
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Severiano "Seve" Ballesteros (born 9 April 1957) is a Spanish golfer who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.
[edit] Career outlineBallesteros was born in Pedreña, Cantabria, Spain. He learned the game while playing on the beaches near his home, mainly using a 3-iron given to him by one of his older brothers. His uncle Ramón Sota was Spanish professional champion four times and finished 6th in The Masters in 1965. Severiano's older brother Manuel finished in the top 100 on the European Tour order of merit every year from 1972 to 1983, and later became Severiano's manager. Brothers Vicente and Baldomero are also professional golfers, but made little impact in tournament golf. Severiano's nephew Raúl has played the European Tour since the turn of the Millennium, but has had little success. Ballesteros turned professional in March 1974 at the age of 16. In 1976, he burst onto the international scene with a second-place finish in The Open Championship; he went on to win the European Tour Order of Merit (money title) that year, and repeated his Order of Merit win the following two years. He would go on to win the Order of Merit six times, a record at that time (since surpassed by Colin Montgomerie). Ballesteros went on to win five major championships:
He was also a great at match play; he won the World Match Play Championship five times, and was a mainstay of the European Ryder Cup team for much of the 1980s and 1990s. He scored 20 points out of 37 matches against the United States; his partnership with fellow Spaniard José María Olazábal was the most successful in the history of the competition, with 11 wins and two halved matches out of 15 pairs matches. While Ballesteros was a member of European sides that won the Ryder Cup in 1985, retained the Cup in 1987 and 1989, and regained the Cup in 1995, the pinnacle of his career in the competition came in 1997, when he captained the winning European side at Valderrama Golf Club in Sotogrande, Spain. This was the first Ryder Cup ever held in continental Europe. In 2000, he created The Seve Trophy, a team competition similar to the Ryder Cup pitting a team from Great Britain and Ireland against one from continental Europe. Ballesteros has played sparingly in the last few years due to back problems, and made his first start in years at the 2005 Madrid Open. He stated a desire to play more tournaments in the 2006 season. He is entered in the field at the 2006 Open Championship, having played just one other event on the European Tour, The Open de France Alstom, where he missed the cut. He runs a thriving golf course design business, is married with three children and will be eligible for the Champions Tour upon turning 50 in 2007. Ballesteros was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1997. [edit] European Tour wins
Major championships are shown in bold. [edit] PGA Tour wins
Major championships are shown in bold. (Seve's Open Championship wins also count as PGA Tour wins. The two majors played in the United States did not count as European Tour events before 1987.) [edit] Other wins
[edit] Team appearances
[edit] Results in major championships
DNP = did not play [edit] External links
[edit] References[edit] Related Articles[edit] Recent Severiano Ballesteros ArmchairGM Stories
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