The Open legends: Seve Ballesteros

Published: 01 July 2022 Last updated: 01 July 2022

Seve with the claret Jug after winning the 1984 Open.

Seve celebrates his victory at the 1979 Open.

Seve Ballesteros celebrates his first Open win in 1979.

Seve Ballesteros lifts his first Claret Jug in 1979.

Seve celebrates his victory at the 1984 Open at St Andrews.

Seve Ballesteros' name is engraved on the base of the Claret Jug in 1984.

Seve Ballesteros won the 1988 Open at Royal Lytham.

Seve Ballesteros' famous celebration after winning the 1984 Open at St Andrews.

Seve was the greatest thing to happen to European golf and his relationship with The Open was cemented thanks to three truly memorable victories. His wins in 1979, 1984 and 1988 were all iconic in their own way and nobody, in golfing history, won with quite the panache of the Spanish legend.

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Nobody knew the late, great Seve Ballesteros better than his older brother, fellow European Tour player and part-time manager, Manuel. So who better to reflect on the swashbuckling Spaniard’s magical Open moments and memories? Now aged 72, Manuel was eight years older and Seve’s mentor.

“When he set out into the golfing world at 17, I took him under my wing,” he told Today’s Golfer.

Manuel was an accomplished player himself, winning the Timex Open by two strokes from Nick Faldo in 1983, but he always knew that Seve was extra special. He witnessed all five of his brother’s Major triumphs, including his hat-trick of Open titles, the first arriving at Royal Lytham in 1979 as he became the first European winner since Arnaud Massy in 1907.

History-maker Seve, who tragically died in 2011, went on to write his name into Open folklore following victory at the Home of Golf in 1984 – crowned by his iconic triple fist pump celebration on the final green – and four years later back at Lytham, where a blistering final-round 65 saw him home…

As Manuel said: “There will never be another golfer like Seve… he was unique.

“Seve loved The Open and The Open and the British fans loved him. It was always that way, ever since he showed up at Royal Birkdale in 1976, aged 19. That was his second Open and he finished runner-up to Johnny Miller. Seve was a little boy but, to be honest, he wasn’t nervous or scared of the pressure. That surprised me so much.

“He opened with two rounds of 69 and went into the final round leading by two after shooting a third-round 73. Unfortunately, Seve had a bad driving day in the last round, costing him double and triple bogeys as he slipped from first to 10th place. But he kept going. He wouldn’t give up and he finished strongly to share second place with Jack Nicklaus.

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“We stayed in a place close to the course and we shared a big room, with two beds. We walked to the course and back every day and I remember going out for dinner in Southport, about two miles from our ‘digs’. But Seve didn’t talk a great deal about golf… when I asked him how Johnny Miller played alongside him in the third round, he simply responded: ‘OK’. Simple as that.

“By then, Seve had caught the links and Open bug and was determined to become an Open champion.
After he’d finished second at Birkdale, I thought he could win The Open. But it wasn’t always like that. In 1975, at a windy Royal St George’s, he said to me; ‘I don’t like this course.’ I said: ‘Seve, you don’t like it because you’ve hardly played in this country, you’ve just started to play. One day you will win on this course.’ And he did, because he won the PGA Championship there in 1983.

“It was always amazing when Seve won The Open. The Open for him was the number one. The Masters was special too, but he preferred The Open because of the people. America had ‘Arnie’s Army’ and in Britain it was ‘Seve’s Army’. I remember that and appreciate what the fans did for him, but I know that Seve did a lot for his UK fans and he always gave his best. He always told me that the British fans loved him and he loved them back…

“Every Open win is important but, for me, the first is the most important one. You have to win the first one to be able to win the second and then the third. All of them are special and thankfully I was there each time. In fact, after his last Open win at Royal Lytham (1988), I remember having to go out to buy bottles of Champagne to fill the Claret Jug with.

“Both times he won at Lytham, the 16th hole was the key. The first time, he cut the ball a little bit but that cut was double or triple because of a left-to-right wind, so the ball ended up near the cars in the car park! And yet from there he somehow made birdie. And then, in 1988, he was in the middle of the 16th fairway and he put his second shot to a few inches from the hole, nearly holing out, which enabled him to see off the challenge of Nick Price. Seve always said his final-round 65 in 1988 was the best round of his life, and who am I to disagree?

“But the highlight for Seve – and there were quite a few – was his 1984 Open win at St Andrews. It was an unforgettable week and we celebrated his victory with a few friends over dinner at the Old Course Hotel. It was a privilege to be there and to be able to practice with him all the time… I actually played in 10 Opens myself, but I only made one cut.

“In France, in 1976, caddie Dave Musgrove asked if he could caddie for me. I said: ‘No, no, no… my brother is the guy you should caddie for. You’ll make more money with him!” I wasn’t wrong. Three years later they won The Open together and the rest is history…”

Seve was the greatest thing to happen to European golf and his relationship with The Open was cemented thanks to three truly memorable victories. His wins in 1979, 1984 and 1988 were all iconic in their own way and nobody, in golfing history, won with quite the panache of the Spanish legend.

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