He was presented with the award at his home in Spain by his compatriot and former Ryder Cup teammate José María Olazábal.īallesteros died of brain cancer on, aged 54.Ĭareer outline Early life and career Ballesteros was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for the second time at the BBC Sports Personality Awards in 2009. In 2008 he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour.
In the 2000s, Ballesteros played sparingly due to continuing back problems and in 2007 he eventually retired from competitive professional golf. In 2000, Golf Digest magazine ranked Ballesteros as the greatest Continental European golfer of all time. Despite this, he continued to be involved in golf, creating the Seve Trophy and running a golf course design business. Largely because of back-related injuries, Ballesteros struggled with his form during the late 1990s. His final victory was at the 1995 Peugeot Spanish Open. He won at least one European Tour title for 17 consecutive years between 19. 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.īallesteros won a record 50 European Tour titles.
He gained attention in the golfing world in 1976, when at the age of 19, he finished second at The Open. A member of a gifted golfing family, he won 90 international tournaments in his career, including five major championships between 19: the Open Championship three times and the Masters Tournament twice. 1 who was one of the sport's leading figures from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. Severiano Ballesteros Sota ( Spanish pronunciation: 9 April 1957 – ) was a Spanish professional golfer, a World No.