The golfing world has been stunned this week by the plight of Severiano Ballesteros, critically ill in a Madrid hospital.

Since Seve first appeared during the 1976 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, he has thrilled and captivated galleries in all parts of the world with displays of supreme skill and derring-do.

Born in Pedrena, Northern Spain, on April 9, 1957, Seve turned professional in 1974 and between 1976 and 1999 won 52 titles, including three Opens (1979, 1984, and 1988) plus two Masters at Augusta in 1980 and 1983.

There is no doubt he has been Europe's top player for several decades and certainly ranks in the top five in the world during the same period.

Seve's power of recovery from impossible positions on courses throughout the world borders on the miraculous. He has played shots any other human would class impossible.

It is therefore, almost beyond belief, he has been struck down in such tragic circumstances. Hopefully, he will recover in the hospital as successfully as during his playing career.

In the meantime, all the world of golf can do is to wait anxiously for his complete recovery.

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