Seve Ballesteros poised to receive BBC award for lifetime achievement

Published on Friday 11 December 2009 22:08

SEVE Ballesteros, the most charismatic figure in European golf history, is to be honoured at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year ceremony tomorrow.

The 51-year-old Spanish great, who has been battling a brain tumour since collapsing at Madrid Airport in October last year, will receive the Lifetime Achievement award.

Previous winners include Sir Bobby Charlton (2008), Sir Bobby Robson (2007), Bjorn Borg (2006), Pele (2005), Sir Ian Botham (2004), Martina Navratilova (2003), George Best (2002) and Sir Alex Ferguson (2001).

The youngest of four brothers who are all golf professionals, Ballesteros first made his mark on the world stage when, aged just 19, he was runner-up to Johnny Miller in the 1976 Open at Royal Birkdale.

A chip-and-run he played between bunkers on the final hole to tie Jack Nicklaus for second shot demonstrated a gift for the game that has had few equals.

Ballesteros was the youngest ever winner of the European Order of Merit title that season, and it took him just three years to lift the Claret Jug at Royal Lytham.

That was the first of three Opens as well as two US Masters titles. No European had triumphed at Augusta until Ballesteros did it in 1980 and it opened the floodgates – Nick Faldo won three times, Bernhard Langer and Jose Maria Olazabal twice and Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam once each.

His influence on the Ryder Cup was just as great. At the suggestion of Nicklaus, the contest was changed in 1979 so that players from Europe rather than just Britain and Ireland were eligible and Ballesteros made his debut that year. Nobody displayed more passion for the event and, with Olazabal, Ballesteros formed a truly formidable partnership. In 15 games they won 11 and lost only two.

Ballesteros reigned as world No 1 for 61 weeks between 1986 – the year the rankings were introduced – and 1989 and he was an obvious choice as Ryder Cup captain when the match was taken to Spain for the first time in 1997. He was the dominant personality all week at Valderrama, waking assistant Miguel Angel Jimenez up in the middle of the night with ideas. Not all the players took to his hands-on style

, but Ballesteros got the result he wanted against a side which included Tiger Woods for the first time.

Ballesteros did have his arguments with officials, most notably after he refused to accept a slow-play penalty six years ago and when he was involved in a confrontation with a referee at his home club Pedrena the following season.

He apologised for his actions, saying he was "distressed about any uncomfortable situation it may have caused the European Tour and my fellow professionals.

"In my 30 years as a professional I have prided myself on living up to those high standards while entertaining golf fans across the world to the best of my ability."

Entertain them he most certainly did and it is a measure of the man that when Faldo, Lyle and Woosnam were in their pomp Ballesteros was the most popular of them all – even when competing in Britain.

Just as Arnold Palmer had "Arnie's Army" to cheer him on so Ballesteros had "Seve's Soldiers", and the messages of support he has received since his collapse have meant an incredible amount to him.

He has undergone four operations, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and has made it his goal to be at St Andrews – scene of his greatest win in 1984 – for next year's Open. Ballesteros has talked of playing in the championship as a thank-you to his fans, but a four-hole Champions Challenge on the eve of the event might be more realistic.

His game having declined alarmingly for over a decade, Ballesteros announced his retirement at Carnoustie two years ago. It was where he had made his Open debut in 1975 and was another sign of how special he considered the event and the British public.