Seve Ballesteros

Seve Ballesteros
Ballesteros in 2006
Personal information
Full name	Severiano Ballesteros Sota
Born	(1957-04-09)9 April 1957 Pedreña, Cantabria, Spain
Died	7 May 2011(2011-05-07) (aged 54) Pedreña, Cantabria, Spain
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Sporting nationality	Spain
Spouse	Carmen Botín O'Shea ​ ​ (m. 1988; div. 2004)​
Children	3
Career
Turned professional	1974
Former tour(s)	PGA Tour European Tour
Professional wins	90
Highest ranking	1 (27 April 1986) (61 weeks)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour	9
European Tour	50 (1st all time)
Japan Golf Tour	6
PGA Tour of Australasia	2
Other	28
Best results in major championships (wins: 5)
Masters Tournament	Won: 1980, 1983
PGA Championship	5th: 1984
U.S. Open	3rd: 1987
The Open Championship	Won: 1979, 1984, 1988
Achievements and awards
World Golf Hall of Fame 1999 (member page) European Tour Order of Merit winner 1976, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1988, 1991 European Tour Golfer of the Year 1986, 1988, 1991

Severiano Ballesteros Sota (Spanish pronunciation: [seβeˈɾjano βaʎesˈteɾos]; 9 April 1957 – 7 May 2011) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 international tournaments in his career, including five major championships between 1979 and 1988; The Open Championship three times and the Masters Tournament twice. He gained attention in the golfing world in 1976, when at the age of 19, he finished second at The Open. He played a leading role in the re-emergence of European golf, helping the European Ryder Cup team to five wins both as a player and captain.

Ballesteros won a record 50 European Tour titles.^[1] He won at least one European Tour title for 17 consecutive years between 1976 and 1992. His final victory was at the 1995 Peugeot Spanish Open. Largely because of back-related injuries, Ballesteros struggled with his form during the late 1990s. Despite this, he continued to be involved in golf, creating the Seve Trophy and running a golf course design business. In 2000, Golf Digest magazine ranked Ballesteros as the greatest Continental European golfer of all time.

In the 2000s, Ballesteros played sparingly due to continuing back problems and in 2007 he eventually retired from competitive professional golf. In 2008 he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. Ballesteros was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for the second time at the BBC Sports Personality Awards in 2009. He was presented with the award at his home in Spain by his compatriot and former Ryder Cup teammate José María Olazábal.

Ballesteros died of brain cancer in 2011, aged 54.