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Severiano Ballesteros

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The cover of a 2005 biography of Seve Ballesteros.
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The cover of a 2005 biography of Seve Ballesteros.

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.

Contents

Career outline

Ballesteros 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, but has already announced that he will not be fit enough to play at The Masters. He runs a thriving golf course design business. He is married with three children.

Ballesteros was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1997.

European Tour wins

Major championships are shown in bold.

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.)

Other wins

Team appearances

Results in major championships

Tournament 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
Masters Tournament DNP DNP T33 T18 T12
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP T16 CUT
The Open Championship CUT T2 T15 T17 1
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

Tournament 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament 1 CUT T3 1 CUT T2 4 T2 T11 5
U.S. Open DQ T41 CUT T4 T30 T5 T24 3 T32 T43
The Open Championship T19 T39 T13 T6 1 T39 T6 T50 1 T77
PGA Championship DNP T33 13 T27 5 T32 CUT T10 CUT T12

Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament T7 T22 T59 T11 T18 T45 43 CUT CUT CUT
U.S. Open T33 CUT T23 CUT T18 CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship CUT T9 CUT T27 T38 T40 CUT CUT CUT CUT
PGA Championship CUT T23 DNP DNP CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Masters Tournament CUT CUT CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP
U.S. Open DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
The Open Championship CUT CUT DNP DNP DNP DNP
PGA Championship DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP

DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half way cut
DQ = disqualified
"T" indicates a tie for a place.
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.

See also

External links


Official World Golf Rankings | World No. 1's in men's golf since 1986.
Severiano Ballesteros | Fred Couples | David Duval | Ernie Els | Nick Faldo | Bernhard Langer | Tom Lehman | Greg Norman | Nick Price | Vijay Singh | Tiger Woods † | Ian Woosnam
† Tiger Woods (USA) is the current World No. 1, and has spent most weeks in that position, currently over 390.

 

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