MADRID (AP)
Seve Ballesteros, a five-time major champion whose passion and gift for imaginative shot-making invigorated European golf and the Ryder Cup, has died from complications of a cancerous brain tumor. He was 54.A statement on Ballesteros' website early Saturday said the golf great died peacefully at 2:10 a.m. local time, surrounded by his family at his home in Pedrena, in northern Spain.
Ballesteros, a two-time Masters champion and three-time winner of the British Open, was as inspirational in Europe as Arnold Palmer was in America, a handsome figure who feared no shot and often played from where no golfer had ever been.
Headlines such as ''The Inventor of Spanish golf'' and ''Life of a Legend'' were splashed across Spanish media websites as fellow golfers, athletes and figures from around the world paid tribute.
George O'Grady, the chief executive of the European Tour, said Ballesteros was the inspiration behind the tour.
''This is such a very sad day for all who love golf,'' O'Grady said on the tour website.
''Seve's unique legacy must be the inspiration he has given to so many to watch, support, and play golf, and finally to fight a cruel illness with equal flair, passion, and fierce determination. We have all been so blessed to live in his era. He was the inspiration behind the European Tour.''
Spanish golf federation president Gonzaga Escauriaza said Ballesteros, an ''icon'' of Spanish golf, transformed the sport.
''Severiano Ballesteros was a unique, unrepeatable person,'' Escauriaza said. ''We have to recognize we are where we are now, that golf is a popular sport ... in large part to Severiano Ballesteros. We all owe him a lot.''
No. 1-ranked Lee Westwood wrote on Twitter: ''It's a sad day. Lost an inspiration, genius, roll model, hero and friend. Seve made European golf what it is today. RIP Seve.''
In a long list of spectacular shots, perhaps the most memorable came from a parking lot next to the 16th fairway at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in the 1979 British Open. Leading by two shots in the final round, he drove his ball into the lot, had a car removed to get his free drop, then fired his second shot to 15 feet and made birdie on his way to his first major.
''He was a man who got into trouble. Only for Seve, there was no such thing as trouble,'' Gary Player once said. ''He could manufacture shots like a genius.''
His last challenge came from an unbeatable foe — cancer.
Ballesteros fainted in a Madrid airport while waiting to board a flight to Germany on Oct. 6, 2008, and was subsequently diagnosed with the brain tumor. He underwent four separate operations, including a 6 1/2-hour procedure to remove the tumor and reduce swelling around the brain. After leaving the hospital, his treatment continued with chemotherapy.
Ballesteros looked thin and pale while making several public appearances in 2009 after being given what he referred to as the ''mulligan of my life.'' He rarely was seen in public since March 2010, when he fell off a golf cart and hit his head on the ground.
His few appearances or public statements were usually in connection with his Seve Ballesteros Foundation to fight cancer. He wanted but was unable to take part in a champions exhibition at St. Andrews in the British Open.
Such was his stature, even out of the public eye, that European players celebrated his most recent birthday — the Saturday of the Masters — as if it were a national holiday.
For such greatness, his career was relatively short because of back injuries.
Ballesteros won a record 50 times on the European tour, his first as a 19-year-old in the Dutch Open, his last when he was 38 at the 1995 Peugeot Open in his native Spain. That also was his last year playing in the Ryder Cup, where he had a 20-12-5 record in eight appearances. He was captain in 1997 when Europe won at Valderrama.
''He did for European golf what Tiger Woods did for worldwide golf. The European Tour would not be where it is today if not for Seve Ballesteros,'' Nick Price, whose brother died from the same problem last year, said from a Champions Tour event in Alabama. ''His allegiance to the European Tour was admirable. The guy, he was an icon, just an incredible golfer.''
Ballesteros was the reason the Ryder Cup was expanded in 1979 to include continental Europe, and it finally beat the United States in 1985 to begin more than two decades of dominance. While others have played in more matches and won more points, no player better represents the spirit and desire of Europe than Ballesteros.
Mark Calcavecchia, winner of the British Open in 1989, was awed by some of the shots Ballesteros produced.
''The best imagination. The best short game. You never really knew where he was going to hit it,'' he said.
''I think I played him twice in the Ryder Cup. I'm pretty sure I never beat him in a match. He was certainly awesome, and really very charismatic.''
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