Seve Ballesteros Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

What if the outcome of a golf tournament could be challenged or overturned in court?

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 13:32:44 +0000

Fred Hawkins (centre), a member of the 1957 US Ryder Cup team, lost the 1958 Masters by a stroke to Arnold Palmer after The King got a favorable ruling during the tournament. But what if he could have sued to have Palmer DQd Central Press

In golf (and most other sports), when the tournament is over so is your opportunity to get the results changed because of a potential rules violation. If Felipe Massa has his way, that won’t be the case in Formula 1 racing. The Brazilian driver was caught up in the famous “Crashgate” scandal of 2008 when a wreck involving Nelson Piquet Jr ended up helping Piquet’s teammate win a race — and costing Massa the season-long driver’s championship by a point.

All of that would have been (bitter) water under the bridge had it not come out that not only did Piquet Jr intentionally crash on orders from his team, but Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone was quoted saying he and other racing executives knew about it and decided not to investigate — or potentially throw out the results of the race while there was still time to do so.

Felipe Massa is exploring a lawsuit against Formula 1 for damages from lost income he did not receive by being denied the World Championship title in 2008 due to what he says was a blundered ruling. Darren Heath

Massa has now filed paperwork stating he intends to sue Formula 1 for the millions he says he would have earned because of a boost to his marketability as a world champion.

If Massa’s suit succeeds and establishes a precedent that works across sports, it sets up some fascinating opportunities for golfers (or their estates) to potentially polish their résumés retroactively.

Arnold Palmer was one shot ahead of Ken Venturi at the 1958 Masters when his tee shot on the par-3 12th embedded behind the green. He and Venturi agreed it was plugged — and that Palmer should get relief, according to the local rule in effect. The rules official walking with the group disagreed and told Palmer to play the ball as it lay. Palmer did — sort of. He chopped out, chipped on and two-putted for double.

He then declared he would play a second ball in protest and dropped near the plug location. Palmer made par with that ball, and the committee later decided his three would count — a decision many believed was contrary to the rules. Palmer would win by a shot over Fred Hawkins and Doug Ford and by two over Venturi. Venturi would go on to become a major champion at the 1964 US Open, but Hawkins would probably be more of a household name instead of a footnote in history had things gone differently.

Seve Ballesteros and Paul Azinger had a legendary heated feud that started at the 1989 Ryder Cup where a singles match turned contentious. On the second green, Ballesteros said his ball was damaged; Azinger protested to a referee, who said the Spaniard had to keep the ball in play. Fast forward to the last hole, and Azinger hit his tee shot in the water. As Azinger was taking his drop, Ballesteros felt he was doing so from a more advantageous spot then he was entitled.

Azinger was able to get up near the green with his next shot, and a steamed Ballesteros hit it in the water to seal a 1-down loss. The result would end up depriving Europe of an outright victory, even though they were able to keep possession of the Cup by virtue of a 14-14 tie. A half point won’t change the individual Ryder Cup legacy for either Ballesteros or Azinger, but three straight outright team wins would look pretty good on the historical register.

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Nick Faldo reminisces about the Open, Ryder Cup and Seve as he’s set to host British Masters

Clarkwin — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 03:49:28 +0000

Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros talk during the 2007 Seve Trophy at The Heritage Golf and Spa Resort in Ireland. Stuart Franklin

In 1985, Golf Digest contributor Tom Callahan, in his guise as the sports guy for Time Magazine, wrote a profile of Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird and Edmonton Oiler Wayne Gretzky. In the piece, Callahan told the remarkable tale of how both men, when shown a picture from the previous night’s game, could relate where the ball/puck and every other player was at that moment, where they had just been and where they were about to go.

Well, Nick Faldo can do that too. Mostly. On the eve of his hosting of this week’s Betfred British Masters, the six-time major champion’s attention was drawn to a photograph of himself on the wall. “Royal Birkdale 1983” came the reply. “I was leading the Open with nine holes to play and blew up. That was one of the big reasons why I decided to change my swing. That guy wasn’t going to win six majors.”

Faldo’s trip down memory lane was appropriate given where he is this week. The soon-to-be 66-year-old and The Belfry go back 45 years. Long before Faldo would play in three Ryder Cups in the English Midlands, he was part of the Great Britain & Ireland team that took on the Continent of Europe in something called the Hennessy Cup. Playing Seve Ballesteros, Faldo witnessed first-hand the historic moment when the Spaniard—armed with a persimmon driver and a balata ball—drove the green at the 311-yard 10th hole.

Today a plaque marks that spot, not far from another. On The Belfry’s 14th tee a marker records the fact that, using a 6-iron, Faldo made an ace during the 1993 Ryder Cup matches.

All of which got the man who was World No. 1 for 97 weeks marching further down recollection road. Yes, his game is suffering from what looked like terminal neglect—the turn isn’t quite as full and the backswing definitely not as long—over the nine holes he played in the pre-tournament pro-am. But no matter. Almost a year after his retirement from commentating on CBS and more than 20 summers since he played regularly on the PGA Tour, the last Englishman to win the Open Championship was just getting going.

“I’m fortunate,” he says of a playing career that boasted over 40 victories worldwide. “I’m not carrying any scars. I did miss out on a couple of U.S. Opens. And I’ve hit the odd bad shot here and there. But nothing is really bugging me. I came close to throwing the Open away at Muirfield in 1992. I had a four-shot lead, lost it, and then got it back. That would have lived on in my head had I lost that day. It must be a horrible thing to carry in your mind. I think Jean van de Velde must wake up in the night screaming. He has to.

“His situation is interesting though. If you know you have to make, say, a 3-to-tie, you immediately have a picture of that in your mind. But how do you picture making a 6 to win? I can’t see that one. Which makes it tricky and interesting psychologically. Maybe you should always think ‘3 to win’ no matter what. That gives you a focus. Hitting shots without that is asking for trouble, as Jean showed.”

Pressed to compare the style of play when he was at the pinnacle of golf and the power-dominated game on display these days, Faldo wasn’t slow to emphasize the nuance and subtlety of his approach. Often enough labelled “robotic,” he was actually anything but.

Nick Faldo holds the trophy after winning the 1990 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews. David Cannon

“Nick is a perfectionist,” points out his former caddie, Fanny Sunesson. “He was so focused. There wasn’t a part of the game where he was weak. But his distance control always stood out. He was so good with that. And that made him really strong on difficult courses. His half-shot was amazing. He was so good at eliminating spin, which requires so much feel and he had so much of that. He could hit so many different shots using a balata ball and the old clubs. And he was great in the wind.”

In turn, Faldo wasn’t denying the love of control he brought to the game en route to his three Masters titles and three Open wins.

“Back in the day, Fanny and I were working to a yard with the wedges,” he says. “She would put a ball down every yard and I would try to hit them. On a good day, I’d be plus or minus a yard on almost every shot. It was a great feeling to hit one 99, then the next 100, and then one after that 101. With enough practice, you get that good.

“I don’t think you can do that with the modern ball. I spoke to Bryson [DeChambeau] three years ago. He told me he couldn’t feel a wedge shot within 10 yards. I can’t either with the balls they use now. It is just so difficult to ‘call a number’ with a wedge now. Which is the reason behind some of [Rory McIlroy’s] issues. He might be better to sacrifice 20 yards with the driver and use a ball he can really trust.”

And he laments the shift in emphasis in today’s game at the elite level. Distance control has given way to a simple search for pure distance.

“I stand on the range watching guys hit balls and I see 15-20-yard differences in where they are landing,” says Faldo. “That would have driven me nuts. I was never robotic though. I used to hit little fades and draws all the time. I had the hold-off. I had the chicken wing. I had the bunt. And I had the rotate. I don’t see that level of subtlety anymore. But the ball doesn’t help. I remember Lee Trevino saying he tried to keep the ball on the clubface for a foot of his swing. That was his feeling. Now it’s the opposite. Now they want to keep the ball on the face for a millisecond and explode off the clubface.”

Moving right along, Faldo, like everyone else with even a passing interest in the game, has watched as the LIV Golf saga has unfolded. Previously on record as describing the LIV Golf League as “meaningless,” he now subscribes to the common view that there are many decisions ahead before a final resolution can be reached.

“I stand by what I said already,” he maintains. “I wouldn’t want to play it. I honestly don’t think 54 holes feel like real golf. Going to the first tee in a London taxi. Then you’ve got somebody on a violin before you tee off. I’m not sure that would have been Faldo back in the day. To be honest there’s only half a dozen [players] who are current. You don’t really know half the field who are there because it’s very nice last-place money. If you shoot 20 over you still get that rather than going home. So nothing feels competitive. I think they all suffer with the atmosphere, and you have to tell the players that only 20,000 people saw them. People would rather watch Penn and Teller doing magic tricks.”

Nick Faldo on the 10th hole during the pro-am prior to the British Masters at The Belfry in England. Ross Kinnaird

Then there is how the DP World Tour handles the possible return of renegades like Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia. Each case, says Faldo, is different, depending on the attitude and public utterances of each player.

“There will be guys who went to LIV for nothing, how much can you find them?” he asks. “Then there’s the guy who was paid $100 million. It will depend too on how much they have spoken out. There have been some seriously different attitudes. I shook my head when I heard Sergio saying he was finally being paid what he is worth. Which is a bit rich when no one really cares about the results of the LIV tour.

“I look at it this way: ‘OK, you went to your little bubble but the little bubble didn’t quite turn out the way you expected. It just wasn’t as big as you thought it was going to be.’ I can’t believe they get much satisfaction out of playing in those LIV events.”

Inevitably, the conversation turned to the Ryder Cup, an event where Faldo won 25 points in his career, in addition to his admittedly controversial captaining of the losing European squad in 2008. Scorning any suggestion that the event needs a close result after a series of blowouts on both sides, he will be rooting strongly for an Old World victory in Italy come September.

“I have to go for Europe,” he predicts. “I really like the character of the team. We have a backbone of eight, maybe nine. And three of those—McIlroy, [Jon] Rahm and [Viktor] Hovland—are really outstanding. Tyrrell [Hatton] can play. So can [Shane] Lowry. So can [Tommy] Fleetwood. Throw in [Matt] Fitzpatrick too, although he has had a rough time with match play. He’s a better player now than he was even two years ago though. On top of all that, give me one rookie who gets 2 points and they are going to be really hard to beat.”

Speaking of which, Faldo was finally able to identify one big regret from his playing career. The premature death of his great rival, Ballesteros, robbed the pair of a friendship that was in its infancy and what could have been an opportunity to hit the road together.

“The hug I got from Seve behind the 18th green at Oak Hill at the end of the 1995 Ryder Cup is still one of the best moments of my career,” says Faldo. “Thinking of it still makes me cry. Imagine me and Seve playing exhibition matches in our mid-60s. We’d take anyone on, after negotiating how many shots we would get and which tees we would play from of course. It would be hilarious. We would have been booked every week. So that is my only regret. When we played the Seve Trophy he came to me and said we had to be friends after being such fierce competitors. He told me he was going to send me a ham. But he never did. He is such a loss to the game.”

The same could be said of the retired Faldo.

“Look at Nick’s record,” points out 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose. “It is unbelievable. I’ve always had aspirations to be as good as he was and I haven’t managed it yet. So I know how tough it is to do what he did. He committed his life to the game, which is even more impressive. Nick’s work ethic is the standard everyone aims for.”

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Seve Ballesteros: The myth and the reality

Clarkwin — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 07:36:06 +0000

Bettmann

On Masters Sunday, the name of Seve Ballesteros seemed to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue: It was the 40th anniversary of his second Masters win, it was Easter Sunday just like the first time he won in 1980, and, most poignant of all, it was his birthday. When Jon Rahm, a Spanish player, won the green jacket, it seemed to vindicate this numerology, and Rahm contributed to the almost religious atmosphere by dedicating his victory to Ballesteros, and declaring that he was “up there helping.” At the conclusion of his public speech, he said “rest in peace, Seve,” made the sign of the cross, and looked skyward.

It’s hard for me to put my emotions into words, but I want to thank everyone for supporting me. This one was for Seve. Having my family there made it even better. A dream come true! @TheMasters pic.twitter.com/LZ0JX41CIv

— Jon Rahm Rodriguez (@JonRahmpga) April 12, 2023

It was all reminiscent of the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah, when the European team, captained by Jose Maria Olazabal, overcame a massive deficit to win on the final day. That happened just over a year after the death of Ballesteros, and just like at this year’s Masters, his name was everywhere on that Sunday—including, quite literally, in the sky, where a hired plane wrote his name out for everyone to see. This concept that he might have had a posthumous influence on results is no glib tribute; it’s a fervent belief held by those who look up to him as a saint of the Spanish and European game. His stature is almost too enormous to quantify; as Ian Poulter once said, “Americans had Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, and before that Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones and others. For us Europeans, Seve is all of those people rolled into one.”

But Seve Ballesteros was no saint in life. He was, instead, someone who made enemies easily, particularly among his Ryder Cup opponents; who held grudges in an almost Jordan-esque fashion; who contributed to his own myth, in truth and in fiction; whose paranoia was so great, he slept with a .38 handgun under his pillow. Today, 12 years after his untimely death due to a brain tumour at age 54, it can be difficult to untangle the Ballesteros of reality with the mythic figure who continues to loom above European golf. The magic he possessed was no exaggeration, and it deservedly lives on, but nor is it the entire story. In today’s episode of Local Knowledge, we look at the legend of Seve Ballesteros, and the very real, very complex man from which that legend grew.

You can listen to the episode at the link below.

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Masters 2023: The sign that had Jose Maria Olazabal convinced Jon Rahm was going to win this week

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 06:10:41 +0000

Jose Maria Olazabal and Jon Rahm. Keyur Khamar

Jose Maria Olazabal, the second Spaniard to win the Masters after the late, great Seve Ballesteros, recognised the poetry in his protégé Jon Rahm triumphing at Augusta National on Sunday. The final round of the 87th Masters came on April 9, meaning Ballesteros, a five-time major champion, would have been celebrating his 66th birthday that same day had he not succumbed to brain cancer in 2011.

What better way for Rahm to honour the greatest golfer to have come from his homeland than to don Augusta’s green jacket on the 40th anniversary of Ballesteros’ second Masters triumph in 1983?

“It’s amazing how things work out,” Olazabal, the 1994 and 1999 Masters champion, said Sunday night. “Sometimes the stars align for a wonderful script.”

Happy Birthday, Seve.

Jon Rahm wins the Masters on what would have been the legend's 66th birthday. pic.twitter.com/vLopj0PmAA

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) April 9, 2023

Part of that script was apparently written last Tuesday during a practice round Olazabal played with Rahm and Sergio Garcia, the other Spanish player to win at Augusta. Garcia’s victory in 2017 also coincidentally came on April 9.

“Funnily enough, we talked about Sunday being Seve’s birthday and how nice it would be to for one of them to win it on such a special day like today,” Olazabal said.

There was a bit of Seve present in Rahm all week. When Rahm four-putted his first hole of the tournament on Thursday for a double-bogey 6, he thought about a famous quip from Ballesteros when a reporter had asked him how he could have four-putted. “I miss, I miss, I miss, I make,” Ballesteros joked.

Olazabal predicted Rahm, 28, could become one of the greats of the game.

“Jon has the full package. A great long game, a great short game … if there are no injuries were seeing Jon win for a number of years to come,” Olazabal said.

Olazabal choked back tears as he was asked about the connection between Ballesteros and Rahm.

“I’m a little bit emotional, yes,” he said. “I first met Jon as a 14-year-old at a junior event for [Olazabal’s long-term apparel sponsor] Lacoste, in Spain. I didn’t believe he was 14. He was taller than me. He was stronger. He hit it a bloody mile. He had a strong temperament, but it was what impressed me the most. To see him become a Masters champion, the way he was so patient today, is really special.”

It was special. For the country of Spain, and for its favorite golfing son, Ballesteros.

“This one was for Seve,” Rahm said. “He was up there, helping.”

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From the archives: The clever practice hack Seve Ballesteros used to prepare for the Masters

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 30 Mar 2023 10:50:00 +0000

Seve Ballesteros. Golf Digest

The legend of how Seve Ballesteros came to be is well known, but never gets old.

Growing up in Spain without much money, Seve learned to play golf on the beach with only a 3-iron. It was a process you’d never recommend to any junior golfer learning the game, but it was one that transformed Seve into one of the most creative short game artists in the game’s history.

And it was a tactic he turned to later in his career, after he had ascended to become one of the best players in the game. Especially ahead of the Masters, when Seve knew Augusta National would demand the best of his game.

Seve’s sand practice, explained

Seve Ballesteros. Golf Digest

It was in the 1993 Masters edition of Golf Digest that the two-time Augusta champion revealed his methods and in it Seve says he would devote large portions of his training sessions to practising from fairway bunkers.

Why? Not because he was preparing for when he drove his ball into the fairway bunker. But rather, because practising improved his swing, he wrote. His tempo got more smooth, he lost excess motion in his swing, and he would perfect making the kind of ball-first contact that generated the amount of backspin he needed to approach Augusta’s tricky greens the way he wanted to.

“Striking the ball cleanly from the sand teaches you great touch and clubhead control, especially with the short irons,” Seve said. “It puts pressure on you … you have to hit the ball first, then the sand.”

Practising full shots out of fairway bunkers is a fairly common tactic coaches use, because effectively, it’s a more difficult form of practice. You can’t get away with not hitting the ball first; hit the sand first, and the shot will end in a severe chunk.

Because the sand provides a less stable surface, too, it creates less room for error. It forces you to swing with balance, stability and rhythm. All qualities, Seve says in the piece, that allowed him to make solid contact more often from the fairway. A clever, simple, homespun piece of genius, that created the Masters legend we’ll remember forever.

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Jorge Campillo follows in Seve’s footsteps to claim Magical Kenya Open crown

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 06:02:32 +0000

Spain’s Jorge Campillo followed in the footsteps of countryman Seve Ballesteros by winning the 2023 Magical Kenya Open.

A five-under final round of 66 took Campillo to 18-under for the week and earned a two-stroke victory over Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura.

Their respective compatriots Santiago Tarrio and Ryo Hisatsune shared third on 15-under.

Campillo had finished with four straight birdies on Saturday and a similar run — four in five — on Sunday’s front nine kept him in control of the tournament, the highlight a pitch to five feet at the seventh.

Another gain at the 10th was given straight back on the 11th but a succession of pars kept him out in front, a fine approach to within 10 feet at the 16th keeping the run going and helping hold off the challenge of Kawamura.

Hisatsune set the early clubhouse target at 15-under, narrowly missing out on a closing eagle that would have taken him within one of Campillo, who again put himself in prime position on the 17th green.

A birdie there, with Kawamura missing his attempt, gave him a three-shot lead going up the last and the opportunity to knock a routine iron and pair of wedges into the heart of the green, a two-putt par sealing his third DP World Tour win and ending a three-year wait since his victory at the 2020 Qatar Masters.

Ballesteros won this event in 1978, with Campillo the fourth Spanish winner after José María Cañizares and Jordi Garcia Pinto in 1984 and 2013 respectively.

He said: “It’s hard to put my name under those names. Where I am from, the little town, I am very proud.

“Obviously it’s always nice to win a golf tournament but to put my name on the same trophy as Seve is obviously more special for a Spaniard.

“We will (celebrate) when I get back. I will try to enjoy the moment now, sign the scorecard and just get ready for the next tournament.

“You know how golf is, you win now and then the next day you are not that good any more.”

Kawamura made three successive birdies on the front nine and set up a final push with one at the 15th, but was unable to capitalise on half-chances at the next two holes before a closing birdie took him second outright.

Tarrio shrugged off a bogey at the eighth with four birdies on an unblemished back nine for a closing 66.

Hisatsune’s final round was one stroke better after a birdie-birdie finish for the third day in succession.

Lukas Nemecz and Borja Virto shared fifth place on 14 under, with Robert MacIntyre in a group a shot further back after he could only manage a closing 70 while playing in the final group with Campillo and Kawamura.

Ashley Chesters eagled the final hole to lift himself seven places into a share of seventh with MacIntyre, Jayden Schaper and Julien Brun.

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Jon Rahm equals idol Seve Ballesteros’ Spanish Open record in some style

Matt Smith — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 17:00:14 +0000

By Matt Smith
Jon Rahm achieved a life-long dream to live up to his idol Seve Ballesteros — and he did it in stunning style to claim his third Spanish Open crown.

A blistering final-round 62 allowed the Spanish hero to saunter to a six-stroke victory to the delight of the home crowd at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.

"Viva Seve!"

Incredible scenes in Madrid as @JonRahmpga equals Seve Ballesteros' record as a three-time winner of the Spanish Open.#AccionaOpen pic.twitter.com/jdlFezryHf

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 9, 2022

Rahm’s third crown in the Spanish Open takes him level with the late legend Seve — allowing himself a bow as he enjoyed a Sunday cruise to finish on 25-under — with Matthieu Pavon next best on 19-under and Min Woo Lee a further shot back after closing with a 68.

“It will take a few days to process this, but it was the goal coming in,” Rahm told DP World Tour. “Seve has always been a great hero of mine and to do what he did over a whole career in only a few years is quite humbling.”

Ballesteros won his three Spanish crowns between 1981-95, while Rahm managed it in four events, with the first title coming in 2018.

Rahm continued: “I’m not going to lie. It might not be the strongest field I play all year but sometimes this could be the hardest to win, right? When I’m at home, I’m supposed to win, everybody is betting on me to win and to come out and play a Sunday like I just did it’s hard to describe. It was my lowest round, my lowest score out here, it was pretty much a perfect week.”

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Jon Rahm hits the front in bid to match legend Seve Ballesteros at Spanish Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 08:06:48 +0000

By GolfDigestME.com
Jon Rahm in on course to emulate his hero Seve Ballesteros in becoming a three-time Spanish Open champion on the DP World Tour. Rahm fired a six-under 65 to move into the lead by a shot at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.

The world No. 6 heads into the final round on 16-under, with the narrowest of advantages over Australia’s Min Woo Lee.

Stephen Gallacher, Louis De Jager, Marc Warren, Eddie Pepperell, Matthieu Pavon and Kiradech Aphibarnrat are three off the lead on 13-under while Edoardo Molinari, who matched the low round of the week with his 63, is a shot further back with Zander Lombard.

“I’m feeling good,” said Rahm. “I’d say I wish most of my rounds could be as organised as this one right now. I don’t feel like I did anything special, maybe the up-and-down on 17, but I just played consistent golf, put the ball in play, and the few times I missed the tee shot I was never really out of it.

“Well hopefully my best round can be tomorrow. Let’s hope for that and have an enjoyable walk down 18. That would be a perfect day.”

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Jon Rahm edges closer to Seve Ballesteros’ record at Spanish Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 09:59:50 +0000

By GolfDigestME.com
All eyes were on former world no.1 Jon Rahm when he arrived on the tee at the Spanish Open on Thursday. And the two-time winner knew it.

Starting on Club de Campo Villa de Madrid‘s 10th tee, Rahm was welcomed by warm cheers from Spanish compatriots who had come out to support their hero on a crisp sunny morning in the Spanish capital. Rahm felt the pressure of teeing it up in front of home fans, as he explained after his round.

“I told Adam (his caddie) walking down our third hole on 12, it is not that my heartbeat was faster, but it was definitely more intense on the first few shots and the first few putts with the home crowd, and I want to do good, and they want me to play well,” he said.

Rahm found his rhythm quickly with a birdie on his first hole, followed by a stunning eagle on the par-5, 14th. He carried that momentum into the rest of his round as he produced three more birdies, including a beautiful chip shot on the 8th hole for birdie to get to 7-under.

A par on the 9th hole gave the Basque native an opening round of 64 to sit one shot off the lead shared by China’s Ashun Wu, Kirdech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and Dutchman Darius van Driel.

Rahm is on track to win his national title for a third time to realise his dream of matching golf legend Seve Ballesteros’ three Open de Espana wins.

“I think his third one was here,” Rahm said. “I mean, it would be incredible. He is obviously the reference in Spain, he made golf where it is in this country and he changed golf worldwide, but here especially. Any time you have the chance to put your name on a list that has only Seve is in it, it’s really incredible.”

Rahm’s Ryder Cup teammate Tommy Fleetwood has his work cut out to realise his own dream of getting his name on one of the oldest trophies in European golf, after an opening round of 1-under-par 70 on his debut in the Spanish Open.

The Englishman also felt the presence of Spanish fans as he teed it up on the first hole in the afternoon alongside defending champion Rafa Cabrera-Bello. Fleetwood produced two birdies on back nine before missing a par putt on the 18th hole to finish the day on 1-under in T46.

Cabrera-Bello got off to a steady start with pars on the first six holes before a fantastic birdie putt on the 7th hole. The back nine proved trickier for the Dubai-based star. A bogey on the 11th, a double bogey at 12 followed by a bogey on the 18th closed out a disappointing round of 74, 3-over. The Spaniard will need to dig deep to be in with a chance of retaining his title.

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Open Championship 2022: The 15 most intriguing battles for the Claret Jug at St Andrews

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 05:14:10 +0000

Seve Ballesteros celebrates making the winning putt in the 1984 Open Championship. Tony Roberts

By Shane Ryan
There are a couple things you may not know about the 29 Open Championships played at St Andrews since time immemorial. First, it being only the second course ever to host the Open, it wasn’t until the event’s 13th iteration that it came to St Andrews — the first 12 were all at Prestwick.

Second, despite Tom Morris, both Old and Young, being so closely associated with the town and course — Old Tom was the greenskeeper and pro there for 39 years — neither one of them ever won an Open Championship at the course. Those facts provide a microcosm of everything to come later, in the sense that the history of the Open at St Andrews is both long and glorious, but also a little strange.

With that in mind, let’s look at the 15 best Open Championships played at the Old Course.

1885 — Bob Martin, Champion

There is a piece of fake history here that is so good we wish it was real. The story goes that David Ayton Sr was winning the event, and by a considerable margin, when he took an 11 on the Road Hole to blow it and lose by two shots. Unfortunately, it appears this is not true, as accounts later discovered list him as shooting a 6 and 7 there. Seven is still not great, and probably cost him the tournament, but it’s no 11.

1933 — Denny Shute, Champion

The only reason we mention 1933 is for a small detail about Leo Diegel, who had two putts on 18 to join a playoff with eventual champion Shute and Craig Wood. Diegel left his first putt short, and then … he missed the ball. Yes, he literally whiffed on a putt. How this happened is a total mystery, especially for a guy who was a two-time PGA Championship winner. Later reports cast some doubt on whether he actually whiffed, or how long the putt was (accounts indicate between three feet and a tap-in), but the most common story, and the one we have to believe, is that he somehow failed to make contact with the ball.

1876 — Bob Martin, Champion

This was the second Open ever at St Andrews, and it merits mention here as both the weirdest and funniest. This tournament marks one of the strangest circumstances in major golf history, in that one of the players who qualified for a Monday playoff opted not to play. That’s Davie Strath, and the whole thing came about because, in a situation that seems comical when viewed from the present, St Andrews members were allowed to play the course during the Open Championship. That led to congestion, and on the 14th hole in the second round (there were only two rounds back then), Strath hit a member of the public named Hutton, an upholsterer, in the head, and Hutton fell to the ground. That rattled Strath, leading to back-to-back 6s, and after climbing a wall to play a ball on 17 and hitting a spectator on 18, he finished with a 90, tied for the lead with Bob Martin.
However, it came to pass that Strath likely hit up to the 14th green in frustration before Hutton the upholsterer had finished the hole, and there was an official “objection” that could not be decided on Sunday night, which meant that the playoff would be played “under protest” pending the outcome. This enraged Strath, who flat out refused to play, and Martin won the event just by going out by himself. That was Strath’s third runner-up, and the rest of his life was not happy; he fell ill with consumption in 1878, decided to recover in Australia, and died in Melbourne 20 days after landing, likely only 29 years old.

1882 — Bob Ferguson, Champion

This was a big one, since for the first time ever the prize for the winner topped £10, with Ferguson winning £12. This week, the winner will take home £2.1 million. Clearly, 1882 is where professional golf began to spiral out of control into the big-money behemoth that it is today.

1888 — Jack Burns, Champion

The weird thing here? Burns was almost the original Roberto DiVicenzo. Whereas DiVicenzo inadvertently signed for a 66 at the 1966 Masters, costing him a spot in the playoff when he had shot a 65, Jack Burns originally signed for an 87 in the first round when he had shot an 86. He won the tournament by a shot, but only because an R&A member noticed that his scorecard for the first day wasn’t adding up. So what did they do? Well, they changed the 87 to an 86, rather than making him take the 87 the way Augusta did to DiVicenzo. It’s almost too sane! Burns followed his 86 with an 85 and captured his only Open Championship.

Sam Snead holds the claret jug in 1946. New York Times Co

1946 — Sam Snead, Champion

The best detail here is that upon arriving at the course, Snead remarked that “it looks like an old abandoned kinda place,” and the Scottish crowd, as you might imagine, did not particularly like him. Nevertheless, Snead was the best man for the job when the heavy winds hit in the final round, and he out-duelled Johnny Bulla and Bobby Locke to win by four shots as the only player under par. This was his only Open title, and one of just three times he ever played, and it got Snead three-quarters of the way to a career Grand Slam. Unfortunately, despite four second-place finishes, he never won the US Open, making him the Mickelson of his day.

1921 — Jock Hutchison, Champion

There are always amazing little details in history that show how the importance and status of events has changed over time. Here again, as in 1876, we have some playoff drama around one guy not wanting to play. That person was Roger Wethered, an amateur who tied with Jock Hutchison at 296. The problem? He was scheduled to play for his cricket team on the Monday when the 36-hole playoff was scheduled, and cricket was a priority. Apparently, the powers-that-be had to work very hard to convince him to stay and play. In the end, he was probably annoyed that he did, since Hutchison raced out a three-shot lead on the first nine and widened that lead to insurmountable territory by their second round. Hutchison, though born in Scotland, was a US citizen who was credited as the first American champion of the Open. Wethered went on to win the 1923 Amateur Championship, but never came close in the Open again, though his sister Joyce was a star whose swing was admired by Bobby Jones.

1927 — Bobby Jones, Champion

Speaking of Jones, he was back at St Andrews to atone for what he’d done in 1921, when he walked off the course in anger during the third round. He won by six strokes, and this is the start of St Andrews’ reputation for producing truly great champions. He was so beloved after this win that by 1958, he was named a Freeman of the City of St Andrews, becoming only the second American after Benjamin Franklin to receive the honour. (Jack Nicklaus became the third this year.)

1957 — Bobby Locke, Champion

First interesting tidbit: Cary Middlecoff was so maddeningly slow to the British players that they actually filed an official complaint with the R&A. Middlecoff’s total time on the course? Three hours, 18 minutes. How times have changed. Second interesting tidbit: Bobby Locke, playing the final hole, forgot to move his ball marker back after moving it out of the line of his playing partner. It was brought to the R&A’s attention, and, showing the same as they had in 1888, they decided no harm had been done, and issued no penalty.

But the really dramatic thing about the incident is that the man who ratted out Locke was none other than Peter Thomson, his supposed friend. Thomson finished second and may have been hoping for a big penalty that gave him the Claret Jug. Friendship over. It’s especially egregious because Thomson had won the last three Opens.

1960 — Kel Nagle, Champion

Nagle won by a stroke over a hard-charging Arnold Palmer, but the important thing about this tournament, in terms of the history of golf, was Palmer’s mere presence. The fact that he was there at all made a massive impact in the US, and while only four Americans played in 1960 — a typical number — there were 24 a decade later, and that number continued to grow with time. Palmer was the one who changed that, and even though he didn’t win in 1960 (he would in ’61 and ’62), he set the tone for the modern era.

Jack and Barbara Nicklaus celebrate his 1970 Open Championship win. R&A Championships

1970 — Jack Nicklaus, Champion

You knew this one was coming. This was Nicklaus’ second of three Open championships, but it will always be known for Doug Sanders’ missed putt on the 18th hole on Saturday’s final round. Clad in a purple sweater, with three feet to win the Open, Sanders stalked it like a man on a mission. But when he struck the ball, it slid past on the right, and he almost seemed to reach out for it, wanting to take it back and try again. This video should probably come with a content warning:
Nicklaus’ quote after his first victory must have been a real rub-salt-in-the-wounds moment for Sanders: “How lucky can you get? I never expected to be here now. Doug had it all wrapped up on the final hole Saturday. Then he missed that short putt.”
Nicklaus would win again at St. Andrews in 1978, but the best Sanders would ever do in majors was runner-up … four times.

1984 — Seve Ballesteros, Champion

On the 18th hole, Ballesteros didn’t know that Tom Watson was struggling on the 17th, eventually making bogey to open the door for him to win. His short pitch over the Valley of Sin gave him a seven-footer for birdie. Watson lost the lead on 17, and Ballesteros hit the tricky right-to-left putt for birdie, and gave one of the most famous fist-pumps ever:

Watson was now down two strokes, essentially ending the tournament. At 12-under, Ballesteros set an Open record at the Old Course. And it remains a little stunning that for all the great Open champions at St Andrews, Watson never joined the club. This was his best chance.

John Daly drives during his 1995 Open win. Jacqueline Duvoisin

1995 — John Daly, Champion

Daly emerged in a four-hole playoff against Constantino Rocca, but for anyone watching this tournament will be remembered for Rocca’s improbably tying putt on the 18th after duffing his pitch, while Daly watched in agony.
It’s hard to tell now what’s more miraculous: Rocca’s putt, or the fact that Daly could somehow recover psychologically in the space of mere minutes to go out and win anyway.

2000 and 2005 — Tiger Woods, Champion

Let’s group these together because they are essentially the same. Neither one was close, but both mattered and were fascinating to watch for the same reason: It was Tiger Woods showing the world, yet again, the dizzying levels of his absurd greatness.

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