Seve Ballesteros: The Passing of a Golfing Genius to Whom We Could All Relate

In my 20-plus years of working in the world of media, I have interviewed some of the most prominent people in the world. Even though several others have gotten more attention, none will ever mean more to me than the time I got a one-on-one interview with Seve Ballesteros.

It was 1990, and Seve was still at the height of his powers and at the top of the golf universe. I was a lowly production assistant at the soon-to-be defunct SNN television network and was on a seemingly hopeless quest to get an interview with Seve at the Kemper Open in Washington, D.C. 

Armed with nothing but my audacity, I went into the locker room and found the world's best golfer alone on the floor trying to stretch his notoriously bad back.

Not speaking a word of Spanish, I decided my only shot was to appeal to his ego and lack of knowledge of the American media scene. I told him we were a major network which had voted him the best player of the 1980s (the decision was unanimous since I was the only voter) and that we would like to do an interview for a feature.

Seve agreed that, indeed, he was the best of the decade and to sit down for an interview which would shock the rest of the waiting news media (with actual audiences) all of whom were seeking the same goal.

He was an amazing interview and one of the most charismatic persons I have ever encountered.

When I watched the normally icy Nick Faldo today break down on the Golf Channel while discussing Seve's death, I too found tears rolling down my cheeks. This happens about once a decade for me, which is appropriate because Seve was a once in a generation character.

I won't bother rehashing all of the fine tributes that are flooding in all day. Instead I wish to share an aspect of his story that is not likely to get as much focus.

Like most golf fans I was fascinated by his pure talent and true genius with a golf club, which was unique in every sense. But what I will always remember about Seve is that no golfer in history played the game at such a high level only to almost totally lose his powers, so completely, in such a short span.

Seve, known most for his legendary ability to recover from trouble (he joked to me that it was because he had more practice out of the woods than anyone else), famously said that when he was young and he was in the trees all he saw was air, but when he got older he began to see only leaves and branches.

There has never been a more dramatic example of the incredible impact of the mind on one's game than the evolution of Seve's career.

In his prime, he dominated golf courses (he easily could have won five Masters in the '80s) almost entirely on his unparalleled passion, will and confidence.

But once the scar tissue of blowing the 1986 Masters started to take hold of his psyche, he went into a downward spiral the likes of which the game has never seen from one of its gods (though the similarities to Tiger's current situation are striking and should serve as a warning to him).

He won his last major in 1988 and his last event in the spring of 1995. By the fall of 1995 however, Seve was still in his 30s and reduced to just a sympathetic figure at the Ryder Cup, an event he used to own.

He got crushed in singles by Tom Lehman in a match still remembered for the miraculous way in which he somehow managed to compete, despite hitting the ball like a double-digit handicapper having a bad day.

He made only one cut in a major after that.

Unlike nearly every other golfing legend, there would never be one last moment where the magic was restored. Seve's powers were so special that once they vanished, they were gone forever.

In a strange way, seeing Seve reduced to the game's lowest level validated the incredible strength of his genius when it did exist, for it proved that this truly was the source of Seve's prior greatness.

While he lost his confidence and game, he never lost his passion and will. He used both to captain the European team to a victory in the Ryder Cup in 1997 in his homeland of Spain.

There has never been a great player with whom the average golfer could relate more than Seve Ballesteros. At his best, he made us all believe that anything was possible. At his worst, he made us all feel better about our own games.

There may be no better compliment to a golfer or a person than to say that there really will never be another one like them, they enhanced the lives of others and that they will never be forgotten. There is no doubt that all of those are true of Seve Ballesteros.