In the heart of his closest legacyin his Terruca, the Santa Marina Golf Club, a leg-breaking layout that, as José Manuel Carriles recalled, has much of the imprint of Severiano Ballesteros in its design since not a grain of earth is moved out of its place, the genius had a unique tribute on a Wednesday morning of sun and flies.
It was in the style that Seve would have wanted. A competition, because the Cantabrian understood life that way. And in pairs, where he wins part of his legend in the Ryder Cup. Between two friends, José María Olazbal y Carriles, on one side, and two admirers, Carlota Ciganda, the best Spanish golfer in history, and Ander Martínez, the president of the Association of Golf Professionals in Spain (APG), the boss of all of them.
The veterans won – even if it’s friendly, it counts, for 3 and 2, which Seve would not have hidden either-, those who lived the most experiences at his side. “She had an aura that is not easy to find in another person. Now that you talk about the landlines that hit LIV [el multimilllonario circuito impulsado por Arabia que ha captado a muchas estrellas mundiales], because it would have the same cache as Tiger Woods. Even if Seve didn’t play it,” Olazbal said before revealing how Ballesteros was silenced by his mere presence, an entire London restaurant on a cold autumn night.
A child’s dream
Carriles, son of the Pedrea locker room employee, also has his unique bond with the golfer who died in 2011. One afternoon on the club’s practice field, he asked his mother to leave him alone with the five-time champion. She had heard his name around town, but it was the first time she had seen him. “And with the balls that he was throwing I picked them up and made him an S and a giant B. Years later I reminded him several times and he didn’t remember. But I know.”
Ciganda, of another age, growing this season, he admired in equal parts the furthest (in age), Seve, and the closest, the dolphin Olazbal. “Flipo with Chema’s short game”, insisted the Navarrese, whose driver was not enough this time. Digging into her memory, Carlota talked about her trips to Pedrea when she was in lower categories with the territorial teams. “And there was Seve always giving balls. Then I saw him on video, although I also remember that I went with my father to El Saler to a tournament. He was no longer in his prime, and the tee shots went very wide, like the But then he recovered in an amazing way”, he explained with the devotion with which Ander remembered 10 minutes of a master class in a bunker that no longer exists in Pedrea. “I was super nervous, but it was a magical moment.”
Olazbal was already in charge of recalling its essence at hole 7. Ball to the woods, second shot to a trough, he took it out and putt in. “This is a tribute to Seve, isn’t it? Well, we’ll have to play in his style,” he joked.
