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Severiano "Seve" Ballesteros (born 9 April 1957 in
Pedreña, Spain) is a Spanish golfer who was one
of the sport's leading figures in the 1980s and
1990s. 


==Career outline==
Ballesteros 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
Tournament|Masters in 1965. Severiano's older
brother Manuel finished in the top 100 on the PGA
European Tour|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 Raul 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 majors|major
championships:
*The Masters Tournament|The Masters: 1980, 1983
**His 1980 win was the first at Augusta National
Golf Club|Augusta by a European player.
*The Open Championship: 1979, 1984, 1988

He was also a great at matchplay|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 one of 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 not played competitively since
October 2003 due to back problems, but he is
considering making a comeback at the 2005 Open
Championship. He runs a thriving golf course
design business. He is married with three
children.

==European Tour wins==
*1976 Dutch Open, Trophée Lancôme|Lancome Trophy
*1977 Open de France, Uniroyal International
Championship, Swiss Open
*1978 Martini International, Braun German Open,
Scandinavian Enterprise Open, Swiss Open
*1979 The Open Championship, Lada English Golf
Classic
*1980 Madrid Open, Martini International, Dutch
Open
*1981 Scandinavian Enterprise Open, Benson and
Hedges Spanish Open
*1982 Cespa Madrid Open, Paco Rabanne Open de
France
*1983 Sun Alliance PGA Championship, Carroll's
Irish Open, Trophée Lancôme|Lancome Trophy
*1984 The Open Championship
*1985 Carroll's Irish Open Peugeot Open de France,
Sanyo Open, Benson and Hedges Spanish Open
*1986 Dunhill British Masters, Carroll's Irish
Open, Johnnie Walker Monte Carlo Open, Peugeot
Open de France, KLM Dutch Open, Trophée
Lancôme|Lancome Trophy
*1987 Suze Open
*1988 Mallorca Open de Balleares, The Open
Championship, Scandinavian Enterprise Open, German
Open (golf)|German Open, Trophée Lancôme|Lancome
Trophy
*1989 Cepsa Madrid Open, Epson Grand Prix of
Europe Matchplay Championship, Ebel European
Masters Swiss Open
*1990 Open Renault de Baleares
*1991 Dunhill British Masters, Volvo PGA
Championship
*1992 Dubai Desert Classic, Turespana Open de
Baleares
*1994 Benson and Hedges International Open,
Mercedes German Masters
*1995 Peugeot Spanish Open

Major championships are shown in bold.

==Other wins==
*1974 Spanish National Championship for under 25s,
Open de Vizcaya
*1975 Spanish National Championship for under 25s
*1976 Memorial Donald Swaelens, Cataluña
Championship, Tenerife Championship, WGC-World
Cup|World Cup of Golf (with Manuel Pinero)
*1977 Japanese Open, Dunlop Phoenix (Japan), Otago
Classic (New Zealand), Braun International Golf
(Germany - not a European Tour event), WGC-World
Cup|World Cup of Golf (with Antonio Garrido)
*1978 Greater Greensboro Open (PGA Tour), Japanese
Open, Kenya Open, Spanish National Championship
for under 25s
*1979 Open el Prat
*1980 The Masters Tournament|The Masters (PGA
Tour)
*1981 Australian PGA Championship, HSBC World
Match Play Championship|Suntory World Match Play
Championship (England - not then a European Tour
event), Dunlop Phoenix (Japan)
*1982 Masters de San Remo (Italy), HSBC World
Match Play Championship|Suntory World Match Play
Championship (England - not then a European Tour
event)
*1983 The Masters Tournament|The Masters (PGA
Tour), Westchester Classic (PGA Tour), Nedbank
Golf Challenge|Million Dollar Challenge (South
Africa)
*1984 HSBC World Match Play Championship|Suntory
World Match Play Championship (England - not then
a European Tour event), Nedbank Golf
Challenge|Million Dollar Challenge (South Africa)
*1985 Spanish Championship for Professionals, HSBC
World Match Play Championship|Suntory World Match
Play Championship (England - not then a European
Tour event), USF&G Classic (USA), Campeonato de
España-Codorniu
*1987 APG Larios, Campeonato de España Para
Professionales
*1988 Westchester Classic (USA), Visa Taiheiyo
Masters (Japan), APG Larios
*1991 Chunichi Crowns Open (Japan), HSBC World
Match Play Championship|Toyota World Match Play
Championship (England - not then a European Tour
event)
*1992 Copa Quinto Lentenario per Equipos, Fifth
Centenary Cup (team)
*1995 Tournoi Perrier (team)

Major championships are shown in bold. The three
majors played in the United States did not count
as European Tour events before 1987.

==Team appearances==
*Ryder Cup: 1979, 1983, 1985 (winners), 1987
(winners), 1989 (tied, cup retained), 1991, 1993,
1995 (winners), 1997 (winners - non-playing
captain)
*Alfred Dunhill Cup: 1985, 1986, 1988
*WGC-World Cup|World Cup of Golf: 1975, 1976
(winner with Manuel Pinero), 1977 (winner with
Antonio Garrido), 1991
*Hennessy Cognac Cup: 1976, 1978, 1980
*Double Diamond: 1975, 1976, 1977
*The Seve Trophy: 2000 (non-playing captain -
winners), 2002 (non-playing captain), 2003
(non-playing captain)

==See also==
*Golfers with most major titles
*Golfers with most European Tour wins

==External links==
*http://www.seveballesteros.com Official home page
*http://www.europeantour.com/players/bio.sps?iPlay
erNo=8&sOption=profile Profile on the European
Tour's official site
*http://golf.about.com/od/golfersmen/p/seveballest
eros.htm Seve Ballesteros at About.com
*http://www.golfstarsonline.com/B/Seve_Ballesteros
/ Seve Ballesteros at Golf Stars Online Directory
of interviews, websites and feature articles with
or about him

Golf world number ones (men)