From an article written by Roddy Carr and featured in The Irish Times, Monday 9th May 2011. It’s a tribute to the legendary Spaniard who sadly passed away in the early hours on Saturday May 7th, 2011.
BORN TO WIN
It was 1973, El Paraisio GC on the Costa Del Sol, the last event on the European Tour. I was a struggling tour pro trying to make the cut to keep my playing card for the next year and avoid the dreaded Monday pre qualifyings. A couple of 73’s would do it. This was real pressure, the negative pressure of survival.
I was paired with this 16 year old Spanish kid whose name nobody could pronounce and who was the kid brother of Manual Ballesteros. He didn’t speak a word of English except ‘hello I am Seve ’. He was a boy with drop dead good looks and the exuberance that only fearless youth have. He had a flashing white smile and piercing eyes would send lightning bolts through the heart of any female they engaged.
On the first hole he mashed a drive 300 yards down the middle hit a five iron into 10 feet and proceeded chastised himself in Spanish out loud all the way to the green. He missed the putt and kicked the bag all the way to the next tee. I scratched a par four.
Next hole he hit a one iron into the teeth of a 30 mile an hour breeze to 15 feet and went nuts that it wasn’t stone dead. I am thinking to myself, is this kid crazy does he expect to hole 1 irons!!! And so it went on all the way around. I shot the inevitable 73, he shot 66 which should have been 60 and he was still ranting on after he signed his card.
I decided I couldn’t put up with this tomorrow and would have to speak to the PGA official Tony Gray about his behaviour for mine and his own good going forward. His brother Manuel was waiting by the scoring caravan. I went over to him and told him what I was going to do. He pleaded with me not to that he was only a young boy and he would speak to him. I let it go.
15 years later after I had hung up my clubs I approached Seve in the Old Course hotel in St. Andrews overlooking the famous Road Hole with a business proposition to promote tournaments in Spain with him. He paused for what seemed a long time and with those eyes boring into me asked; ’Roddy, remember El Paraiso in ‘73’, I said yes, very well Seve, ‘you no report me’, He then put out his hand and said ‘yes, we will make business together for our families’. He had a memory like an elephant, always did. I spent the next 13 years working with Seve in Spain and in the final three years managed him from Pedrena, the little fishing village where he was born and loved so much.
In order to understand Severiano Ballesteros one must understand his life as a young boy caddy in Real (Royal) Pedrena GC. He had to steal balls and borrow clubs to play on the beach, because he was not allowed play on the course. He would climb over the wall behind the 4th tee at night and play 18 holes in the dark with no shoes so his mother would see his wet shoes when he returned. His father whom he loved dearly and missed greatly in later life was the caddy for Emilio Botin, the owner of Banco Santander and Spain’s richest man. He was later to marry his daughter Carmen Botin, a beautiful woman in all respects, who bore Seve three children that became the light of his life.
He developed his genius skills on the beach in Pedrena making up shots with the limited armoury of clubs using a Heinz beans can as a hole in the hard sand and just his imagination and creativity, which was limitless, to learn the game.
When he played golf he never knew or thought about anything but winning. He believed he could win any tournament and always thought he would. It was win or die, like the true Matador of golf that he was. He dressed for the fight is cashmere pastels, and performed his art with a style and panache never before seen. He had a ferocious temper but was the eternal optimist on the course no matter where he hit it he believed he could make birdies.
Nobody will ever forget his grand entrance on the greatest stage in world golf at The Open in Birkdale in 1976. He dared to play an impossible cheeky pitch and run chip threading it through the greenside bunkers on the final hole to finish second to Johnny Miller. Nor will anyone forget the unique joyful fist pumping jig that became his iconic image winning at St. Andrews in 1984.
He never forgave the Americans for the loneliness he felt when he went to play on their tour. They wouldn’t speak to him in the locker room or have dinner with him at night. The old guys on the PGA Tour in those days didn’t take kindly to foreigners invading their Tour and ‘stealing’ their money. In retrospect maybe they should have been nicer to Seve. He told me once that in Augusta on the first tee he had 143 enemies to kill. ‘With every birdie I kill maybe 5 to 10 with every eagle I kill more’. Who will ever forget his triumphant march up that 18th hole in 1980 having slayed the field mercilessly to take his revenge.
The Ryder Cup became the ultimate battle for him taking on the might of America under their flag in ‘mano de mano’ (hand to hand) combat, which he loved. They were impossible to beat or so everybody thought except Seve. Jacklin was smart enough to know that Seve was the key to victory and gave him his head. In this event he became both the Gladiator and the General and led his troops into battle with a passion like Braveheart. He loved the Ryder Cup more than any other event. His fire, passion, determination and belief that they could beat the Americans was contagious, infectious and ultimately convincing.
His battle in Oakhill in 1995 against Tom Lehman in the top singles on the Sunday leading his team when his game had totally deserted him was to me the greatest epic encounter in golf I have ever witnessed. He never hit a fairway or green for the first nine holes and only met Lehman on the greens to pick his ball out of the hole. He was all square after nine! The Lehman twitch at that stage was almost uncontrollable. He fought like Jake La Motta from the Raging Bull……He wouldn’t go down…..’Seve won’t go down’ echoed from the big red scoreboards around the course …..it ignited and inspired his team mates because they knew what it was taking for Seve to do this; their Gladiator was leading by example. Even though he lost, his courage and inspiration passed through the veins of his team mates and ignited them to a memorable victory.
Weeks later by the fire in the old clubhouse in Pedrena we were discussing that battle, he paused, touched the side of his nose with his finger as if smelling (blood) ….’if I get him one more hole, I break him…. ‘.
There was always a halo like ring around Seve, such was his charisma. Even the most seasoned scribes would be nervous approaching him as he was always unpredictable and they knew he never forgot…
I remember vividly at the annual European Tour black tie dinner in Wentworth the star players were coming in. Faldo, Lyle, Langer, Woosnam entered and nobody noticed. Seve appeared dressed in his favourite brown cashmere blazer, white shirt and an Augusta green tie looking like a Greek God. Silence descended on the room and everybody rose and started clapping. That is the definition of charisma.
He loved his fans and they loved him. He fed off their affection and they inspired him to give more. He always wore his heart on his sleeve and played the game with such flair, passion, intensity, and honestly of expression that he was the most exciting golfer ever to play this great game of golf.
It was a tragic and sad ending to a life that inspired millions to take up the game. He is now immortalised as the legend SEVE. He will be remembered for his genius and courage and most for all for the joyous way HE played the game. He will be sadly missed.
Roddy Carr
May 8th 2011
