Seve Ballesteros (9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish golfer who dominated the world of golf in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ballesteros set many European records during his time as a golfer, including winning at least one European Tour title for 17 consecutive years between 1976 and 1992 and winning a record 50 European Tour Titles.
After retiring from Golf, Ballesteros started to design golf courses and even created a competition called Seve Trophy. Sadly, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2008 and eventually was killed by Brain Cancer in 2011.
In total, Seve won 90 professional tournaments and also won another 5 Major Championships – he won the US Open twice and the Masters 3 times. Today, we are going to take a closer look at the life and career of this all-time great.
Seve was born in the village of Pedreña, Cantabria, Spain. He was the youngest of 5 sons. One of his brothers died before the age of 10 and the other 3 also went on to be professional golfers. Seve was the most successful of the quartet, however.
Seve also had a nephew, Raúl, who is a professional golfer.
Seve and his brother Manuel used to skip school to learn how to play golf on the beach from their uncle Ramón Sota – who had been a professional golfer before they were born.
Ballesteros turned professional at the age of 16 and shocked the world by coming 2nd in his first tournament – the 1976 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club. In that same year, he also won the European Tour Order of Merit.
At the age of 19, Seve won his first Open Championship. This was a particularly notable victory as during one of the holes he shot the ball into the car park and still managed to hit it with a birdie. He won the competition again in 1984 and 1988.
He won the Masters for the first time at age 23. He won the Masters for the second time in 1983. At the time he was the first European to win the tournament and the youngest winner (he held this record until Tiger Woods won it at 21 in 1997).
Seve broke the record for most European Tour Tournament wins with 50 total wins. He also won 9 PGA Tour Titles, 2 titles in Australia, 6 in Japan, and 25 smaller tournaments. He ended his career with 90 professional tournament titles.
Seve was the most successful Spanish golfer of all time and is arguably one of the most successful European golfers of all time too.
Find the best golf odds on European, PGA, Japanese Tours, and much more here.
By the end of the 1990s, Seves form was starting to decline. He was suffering from near-constant back injuries, and many believe he may have also been suffering from problems caused by a brain tumor at the time.
It was around this time that Tiger Woods had joined the tour and was starting to dominate the majority of events he was playing at.
Seve won 21 professional titles in his first three years of being a professional. He won 39 tournaments in the 1980s and over 30 tournaments between 1990 and 1995. He continued to play until 2007.
Seve came from a golfing family and lived golf for many decades.
He had three children with his wife, Carmen Botín O’Shea, before the split in 2004.
In 2008, Ballesteros was diagnosed with a brain tumor. That year he was given the Life Time Achievement Award by the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He passed away three years later from Brain Cancer.
His death happened in the middle of the Open de España and a moment of silence was held for him that day. At the next Ryder Cup, the European team wore a Navy blue shirt with a picture of Seve on it as a tribute to him.
It is widely believed that Seve’s success helped to start a resurgence of professional golf across the European continent.