Seve Ballesteros dies of cancer at 54

MADRID - Seve Ballesteros was a genius with a golf club in his hand, an inspiration to everyone who saw him create shots that didn't seem possible. His passion and pride revived European golf and made the Ryder Cup one of the game's most compelling events.

The Spanish great's career was defined not only by what he won, but also how he won.

"He was the greatest show on earth," Nick Faldo said.

Ballesteros, 54, a five-time major champion whose incomparable imagination and fiery passion made him one of the most significant figures in modern golf, died Saturday morning from complications of a cancerous brain tumor.

"Seve was one of the most talented and exciting golfers to ever play the game," Tiger Woods said on Twitter. "His creativity and inventiveness on the golf course may never be surpassed."

A statement on Ballesteros' website early Saturday said he died peacefully at 2:10 a.m. local time, surrounded by family at his home in Pedrena, Spain. It was in this small town where Ballesteros first wrapped his hands around a crude 3-iron and began inventing shots that he would display on some of golf's grandest stages.

He won the Masters at 23, leading by 10 shots at one point in the final round. He was a three-time winner of the British Open, no moment greater than his 1984 victory at St Andrews. He was as inspirational in Europe as Arnold Palmer was in America, a handsome figure who feared no shot and often played from where no golfer had ever been.

"He was a man who got into trouble - only, for Seve, there was no such thing as trouble," Gary Player, his longtime friend and rival, once said.

In a long list of spectacular shots, perhaps the most memorable came from a parking lot next to the 16th fairway at Royal Lytham and St. Annes in the 1979 British Open. Leading by 2 shots in the final round, he drove his ball into the lot, had a car removed to get his free drop, then fired his second shot to 15 feet and made birdie on his way to his first major.

Headlines such as "The Inventor of Spanish Golf" and "Life of a Legend" were splashed across Spanish media as fellow golfers, athletes, and figures from around the world paid tribute.

His last challenge came from an unbeatable foe: cancer.

Ballesteros fainted in a Madrid airport while waiting to board a flight to Germany on Oct. 6, 2008, and a brain tumor was subsequently diagnosed. He underwent four separate operations, including a 61/2-hour procedure to remove the tumor and reduce swelling around the brain. After leaving the hospital, his treatment continued with chemotherapy.

Ballesteros looked thin and pale while making several public appearances in 2009 after being given what he referred to as the "mulligan of my life." He rarely was seen in public after March 2010, when he fell off a golf cart and hit his head on the ground.

Ballesteros won a record 50 times on the European tour, his first victory as a 19-year-old in the Dutch Open, his last when he was 38 at the Spanish Open in 1995. That also was his last year playing in the Ryder Cup, where he had a 20-12-5 record in eight appearances. Ballesteros was captain in 1997 when Europe won at Valderrama.

"He did for European golf what Tiger Woods did for worldwide golf," three-time major champion Nick Price said from a Champions Tour event in Alabama.

Ballesteros was the reason the Ryder Cup was expanded in 1979 to include continental Europe, and it finally beat the United States in 1985 to begin more than 20 years of dominance.

1979 British Open,

at Royal Lytham and St. Annes

1980 Masters

1983 Masters

1984 British Open,

at St Andrews

1988 British Open,

at Royal Lytham and St. Annes

- golf.com

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