Seve Ballesteros (1957-2011)

After a long bout with the effects of a cancerous brain tumor, Seve Ballesteros died in Spain today at the age of 54.

He won five major championships, two Masters and three British Opens, is the career European Tour wins leader with 50, and won six times on the PGA Tour. He was also a force in Ryder Cup competitions, bringing the European to team to parity and then superiority over the American team in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

European players today give him credit for elevating the status of the European Tour in the same way Arnold Palmer did for the PGA tour in the early 1960s.

Ballesteros was best know for being a fierce competitor, and for having an imagination and scrambling skills that left him never out of a hole no matter where he was playing from. Stories of recoveries from impossible positions are legion.

He had dashing good looks and was the definition of golfing charisma. In my experience, no golfer since Palmer has been as magnetic while in the hunt as Ballesteros, and that includes TW. If he was leading or challenging the lead, you had to watch.

While someone is alive, we can still say that we live in their era, even though their productive years have passed. The Ballesteros era is now over. He was one of a handful of players in history who truly changed course of professional golf. Those of us who saw him leave his mark are richer for it.

NY Times obituary

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