Seve Honoured by Jack

Each year at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament a prominent member from the golf community is honoured. This year Nicklaus chose Severiano Ballesteros from Spain.
Ballesteros was not able to make an appearance at the tournament due to his recent battle with cancer. In October of 2008 Ballesteros began treatment for a cancerous brain tumour with a series of operations to have the tumour removed. Seve did not make a public appearance until June of 2009.
Ballesteros turned professional in March of 1974 at the tender age of 16. By the time Seve would retire from professional golf his worldwide victory total would reach 91, including five major championships. Ballesteros’ first victory was the 1976 Dutch Open. It was earlier that summer at age 19 when Ballesteros let it be known to the world he would be a force in major championship golf. Seve finished tied for second with Jack Nicklaus in the British Open at Royal Birkdale. The “dashing” young Spaniard seemed to have it all: style, grace, good looks, and a game to back it all up.
Ballesteros would win his first major championship three years later at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. Seve was unjustly named the “car park” champion for his miraculous birdie from a temporary parking lot adjacent to the 16th hole. Ballesteros had decided that the far right side of the hole left the best approach to the final day’s difficult pin position. Seve was correct! A birdie at the 16th propelled Seve to a three stroke victory over Jack Nicklaus and Ben Crenshaw.
I had the opportunity to witness Seve’s magic first hand during a practice round at the 1989 British Open Championship at Royal Troon. Ballesteros was the defending champion and had some of the largest galleries during the Open. It was a Monday afternoon and the galleries had yet to swell to capacity. I somehow managed to get on the practice area thanks to Al Malan, Steve Pate’s longtime caddie and former Kelowna resident. Seve was practicing his short game - not that he needed to - and teaching some young pros a variety of short game shots. This was before cell phones and their ability to record video; otherwise I would have been filming a short game display that was one part trick shot, the other part pure golfing genius.
Lee Trevino may have best described Seve with this quote: “Every generation or so there emerges a golfer who is a little bit better than anybody else. I believe Ballesteros is one of them.”
This year the Open returns to St. Andrews, the site of Ballesteros’ 1984 victory. Knowledgeable golf fans will have ingrained in their memory the sight of Seve punching the air after holing a putt on the 72nd hole for a second Open Championship victory. Past champions will be playing four holes; one, two, seventeen and eighteen at the Old Course on Wednesday July 14th. My guess is that Ballesteros will receive the loudest cheers as he returns to make his first public appearance since his battle with cancer. I hope to be one of those in attendance for what will be an extraordinary afternoon.
Gord McGarva has been playing golf since 1979, the year Seve Ballesteros won his first major championship.