Seve's Top Five Shots
With Seve Ballesteros officially retiring from golf on Monday, we asked Golf Digest resident historian Cliff Schrock to give us the five most memorable shots (and there were many to choose from) of Seve's career:
1. 1984 British Open at St. Andrews: Curls in a 15-foot birdie putt on 18 in the final round (photo) to win over Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer.
2. 1983 Ryder Cup at PGA National: His 240-yard 3-wood second shot from a bunker to the fringe on the par-5 18th in singles vs. Fuzzy Zoeller halves the match, but Europe narrowly loses the cup. U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus called that 3-wood the greatest shot he'd ever seen.
3. 1976 British Open at Birkdale: On the par-5 18th, Seve runs a 9-iron chip shot between two bunkers to 4 feet to secure second behind Johnny Miller and makes a big impression in his first major international exposure.
4. 1979 British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes: On the 16th hole, he deliberately drives his ball into a parking lot, gets a free drop, and hits sand wedge to 18 feet and makes the putt for birdie en route to victory.
5. 1983 Suntory World Match Play Championship at Wentworth: On par-5 18th, one down to Arnold Palmer in the opening round, he chips in from 50 yards for eagle with an 8-iron and then beats Arnie in 21 holes.
Oops, you have to love the flare of Seve, the never-ending suspense of his ability, but I need to offer a correction on Cliff's List. Item No. 2, 1983 Ryder Cup Match. I think the 240-yard 3-wood from a deep-faced fairway bunker was truely a miracle, but it was Seve's third shot on the par 5 18th hole - facing a waterlined green. Seve's drive was ankle deep in the Florida "heather", his second was a near whiff moving the ball forward to the fairway bunker, and his third from the shell sand reached the collar, for an up and down par. "Leaking oil" Seve was losing many holes to the ailing, inspirational, and rib-cage harness wearing Fuzzy Zoeller who had said to Captain Nicklaus, "let me go out first, as the lamb to the wolves," figuring his health and ability to finish was questionable. Many tried to duplicate the "Seve 3-wood" and none were remotely close or even able to exit the bunker.