Severiano Ballesteros was one of sports world’s greatest and most iconic characters

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Severiano Ballesteros was the Spanish golfing genious who changed the face of golf. And today the sport mourns the passing of a legend who transcended sport to become one of the world’s greatest and most iconic characters

His list of achievements in the game is enormous. But it is the swashbuckling way he dominated the sport and raised the profile of the European game that confirmed his greatest.

Seve, who was only 54, died in the early hours of Saturday morning after a protracted battle with cancer.

He won five majors and 87 titles overall in a glittering career, which also included emotional successes in the Ryder Cup as both player and captain. In fact it was Seve who was largely responsible for breathing life into the Ryder Cup. His arrival in 1979 created a renewed interest in a competition that had declined into lopsided United States thrashings of teams composed of players from Britain.

BY JOHN GUBBA