Friday, May 13, 2011

Seve Ballesteros, RIP

Seve Ballesteros passed away last week from complications of a cancerous brain tumor. Back in the late 80's or early 90's (sorry about the time fog) my dad and I followed him around for 9 holes at Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Tournament. We saw him take a confident, one handed swipe at a 6 inch putt...and miss it. The look on his face made it painful to watch, but he didn't pitch a fit. No muttered profanities, none of that "I don't deserve this" attitude. I'll bet he never tried a one handed putt again.

I remember reading an interview in which he was asked what went through his mind when he made a bad shot (he was known for making many and then magically escaping). He said, and I paraphrase, that many people won't understand this, but that you just have to forget about it, no matter how badly you're playing. It's in the past, it's gone, there's nothing to be done about it, and you have to move on to the next shot. And so he has.

The following is an ESPN profile shown during last year's British Open, to which Seve had hoped to return to participate in a four hole, pre-tournament competition with other past champions.

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