Ewen Murray charts the mercurial talents of Seve Ballesteros - from terrific teen to Ryder Cup great.
Seve leaves heart-warming legacy and golden memories, says Ewen
The golfing world is in mourning with the passing of Severiano Ballesteros who slipped away in the early hours of Saturday morning in his home town of Pedrena.
I first met Seve when he was a teenager at the under 25 championship in Evian.
It was a practice round and this engaging Spaniard arrived on the first tee with some dodgy-looking shoes and minus the full compliment of clubs.
My first question was: who are you caddying for? "I am playing," was the reply.
After a few holes, I realized I was in special company and it was the beginning of a friendship that would last until his untimely death of such a brutal illness.
Talents
Two years after our first meeting, Seve introduced himself to the world at our Open at Royal Birkdale.
Leading in Southport despite seeing parts of the course that not everyone knew existed, he came up short against Johnny Miller, but during that week he left no one in doubt about his mercurial talents and the cheeky chip he sent between the bunkers at the 72nd hole endeared him to everyone that was there to see it along with the millions watching on television.
A week later, he won the first of fifty European Tour events in Holland. The Seve story had begun.
At that time, the European Tour was in its infancy and there was some doubt as to whether it would succeed. Seve came along at just the right time to give it the injection it needed and without his influence, who knows where we would be today.
Legacy
At the age of just 54, this charismatic and caring man has been taken away long before his time, but the legacy he leaves will guide us through the future.
He will be remembered for many things one of them reviving a flagging Ryder Cup. Seve was instrumental in the changing from Great Britain and Ireland to joining forces with Europe.
He became the modern Mr. Ryder Cup and the images of him and his great friend Jose Maria Olazabal celebrating Europe's first win on American soil are forever etched in our memories.
Yet it was his last playing Ryder Cup that I remember with a smile. Struggling with his game he was out in the top singles match against Tom Lehman at the 1995 match at Oak Hill IN New York.
Seve hit one green on the first nine holes, chipped in twice and reached the turn all square.
His heroics inspired an ageing team and somehow with his leadership Europe turned a two point deficit into a glorious win for his captain, Bernard Gallacher. Two years later, Seve enjoyed his reward leading his side to victory at Valderamma.
Gift
His greatest gift to our Tour however will be the way he crossed the Atlantic and took on the Americans on their patch.
He was the Pied Piper for the joyous European successes during the last two decades of the previous century. He was the one who gave the others belief and he did it with his own unique style.
I spent many days with Seve on the course during my time on tour and I felt blessed to just be alongside him.
One Sunday we were paired together in the final round at Ullna in Northern Sweden. We were in the third last match and in with a chance, but we both had an awful day spraying shots all over the place and in the end struggled to break 80.
On the 18th green he put his arm around me and said "Euam, (he never could pronounce my name), the great thing about this game is there is always another day".
Sadly for Seve there are no more days left, but the legacy he leaves is heart-warming, it's one of golden memories and intoxicating images, like, "that" celebration on the last green at St. Andrews in 1984.
There have been some great champions in Europe and there will be many more in the years ahead, but the greatest champion of them all is Severiano Ballesteros Sota.
A golfing genius and a treasured friend.
