Seve: Golf's Flawed Genius

by RobertGreen (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $3.25

  Severiano Ballesteros is charismatic and can be charming, but his personality comprises layers of intrigue. Robert Green has written an amazing portrait of the man whose mind has been described as 'a private forest, a place impenetrable, indeed dangerous to others'. Over the past twenty years no other journalist has enjoyed such regular contact with Seve - meetings, interviews, phone conversations and meals together, which have led to a video, a golf instruction book, many magazine features and now an autobiography. This extraordinary book begins with an incident on the first hole of the first series of fourball matches at the 1987 Ryder Cup, the year of Europe's first ever success in the USA, an incident encapsulating Seve's skill, bravado, what he brought to the Ryder Cup and his oft-expressed antipathy towards Americans. Green goes on to describe Seve's family and upbringing in Pedrena on Spain's North Coast, his first tour and first win. Seve's glory years: five major championships in ten seasons, not without grief, most notably in the Masters, where his two titles could easily have been five or six, are detailed; also how his skills and enormous popularity enabled the European Tour to flourish primarily based on his efforts. The section on the Ryder Cup describes how Seve emerged as a force and how without him, it wouldn't be the tournament it is today. The picture then turns blacker: the vehemence and verve with which Seve pursued victory in the Ryder Cup reflected the way he felt he had been treated on the US PGA Tour. Come September 2004, he became embroiled in a further spat after an apparent assault on a tour official in his home town. Green reveals Seve's dark side, the side the public seldom sees. With personal and third-party insights, he shows him how he is: his generosity, his gregariousness, his caprices and manipulativeness, his business affairs, his relationships with past managers, his relationship with his wife Carmen and his three children.

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $3.51

  Severiano Ballesteros is charismatic and can be charming, but his personality comprises layers of intrigue. Robert Green was written an amazing portrait of the man whose mind has been described as a private forest, a place impenetrable, indeed dangerous to others . Over the past twenty years no other journalist has enjoyed such regular contact with Seve. Covering all the highs and lows of Seve's professional and personal life, this is the definitive biography of Ballesteros. Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards for Best Biography.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $4.19

  There are golfers, and there are golfers. And then there's Seve. Severiano Ballesteros is perhaps the most naturally gifted golfer ever to have walked a fairway. From the moment his brother Manuel gave him his first club - a 3 iron - he was unstoppable; he played shots others could only dream of. A few weeks before his seventeenth birthday he turned pro. Five years later, he won the Open. A year after that, he became the first European ever to win the Masters. A genius had arrived. For the best part of two decades, Seve dominated the golfing landscape. With 94 wins to date as a professional (including 5 Majors), 6 European Order of Merit titles and the No. 1 position in the Official World Golf Rankings, he became a sporting phenomenon, an athlete who transcended - and still transcends - his sport. But Seve stands for more than simple excellence. Almost single-handedly, Seve gave European golf credibility; almost single-handedly, he made the Ryder Cup one of the greatest contests in world sport. And when, as captain, he finally lifted the trophy on home soil in 1997, a whole continent rejoiced. His pride and passion have inspired millions, and we have taken him to our hearts. Now, for the first time, Seve tells his story. From his humble beginnings right up to the present day, here at last is the man behind the magic in his own words. Like its author, Seve is utterly entertaining, blazingly charismatic and unique; and, like its author, it wears its heart on its sleeve. But Seve is more than Seve the golfing magician, Seve the proud family man, and Seve the fierce patriot. It is, simply, 'Seve'.