Severiano Ballesteros, 1957-2011

I never realized until this week that Seve Ballesteros was born less than nine years before me. He was such a prodigy -- he won the British Open at 22 and the Masters at 23 -- that he always seemed to be older than he was. Also, we didn't get to see him all that much -- he won 50 events on the European Tour but only nine events on the PGA Tour (and five of those were majors). His last win in a regular PGA event took place in June 1988, when I was only 22 years old. So I always categorize him with guys like Tom Watson and Johnny Miller, even though he was closer in age to Nick Faldo (b. 1957) and Greg Norman (b. 1955).

From my perspective, it's a shame he didn't play over here more often. American golf spent much of the 1980s in a terrible doldrum that didn't truly end until the arrival of Tiger Woods, and we could have used more of Seve. On his day, he was a flashy, dramatic player with spectacular skill and a bold imagination that enabled him to invent remarkable shots time after time. He was, in many ways, the sort of player that Phil Mickelson has always wanted to be -- a latter-day Palmer, taking bold risks and living with the results.

But he never seemed to like us very much. Certainly he loved to humiliate us in the Ryder Cup -- his record in Ryder Cup matches was 20-12-5, and he also captained the Euros to victory in 1997. (The team of Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal went an amazing 11-2-2 in Ryder Cup matches). And, as I said, he generally avoided our tour.

As I watched him spur the Euros to Ryder Cup victories year after year in the 1980s and 1990s, I used to wonder about the extent to which he was motivated by what happened at the 1986 Masters. These days, everyone just remembers that Nicklaus made a remarkable comeback by shooting 65 on the last day for the win. But Ballesteros had a great chance to win the Masters for the third time that year. In fact, he came to the 15th hole -- a relatively easy par 5 -- in the lead. Nicklaus eagled that hole as part of his charge, but Ballesteros put his second shot in the water in front of the green. That cost him the tournament -- and it led to one of the biggest cheers of the day, as the pro-Nicklaus crowd exploded in joy. According to some reports, the crowd gave Ballesteros the U! S! A! chant as he walked over the bridge on 15. Of course, I thought -- and still think -- that the crowd's reaction was more pro-Nicklaus than anti-Ballesteros. But whenever I saw him in the Ryder Cup, he certainly looked like someone seeking revenge.