Players Championship - An Early Battle

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Miserable drive pushed left. Even more miserable, it hit a tree and bounced straight down in rough. Most miserable of all, he had a nasty lie and a whopping 251 yards to the front of the green at the par 5 16th.


Hey, it was a practice round, right? Pick it up and toss it in the fairway, right?


Wrong.


It was a practice day, but this was no practice round. It was Tuesday, but it may as well have been Sunday with the Players Championship on the line. So Phil Mickelson settled over his shot and took a mighty swipe, trying his best to chase something down the fairway and toward the green.


And just what was consuming Mickelson’s attention on a quiet Tuesday at the Stadium Course? The fact that he and Jeff Overton were locked in a fierce match against Dustin Johnson and Steve Marino, that’s what. It was a rematch of a battle waged at Whistling Straits during last summer’s PGA Championship; Mickelson and Overton won that one, but if they were going to repeat, they were going to have to scramble because things were not good here at the 16th.


Oh, did we mention that a few dollars were at stake? Nothing that would match this week’s purse, mind you, but surely this was not a $5 Nassau.


“Guys just don’t do this anymore,” said Butch Harmon, walking along to keep tabs on two of his guys, Mickelson and Johnson. “But this is good. You get to work on what you’re going to face in competition.”


Having been 2 up when Overton birdied the par 5 11th, Mickelson’s team was now in full hang-on mode. Marino had birdied the 12th to get one hole back and now here at the 16th, Johnson was the only one to reach the green in two. That pretty much put the pressure squarely on Overton, for after carving a second shot out of that nasty lie, Mickelson left his third shot short of the green and wasn’t in position to make birdie.


From a greenside pot bunker, Overton hit a terrific shot to 8 feet. But with Johnson already in for birdie, Overton could not convert, so the match was all square.


“It keeps everything fun, makes you grind and hit some golf shots,” Johnson said.


The tall and lanky one from Myrtle Beach did just that at the 17th, his wedge to the island green coming to rest some 20 feet behind the hole. Marino then went long and into the water. Mickelson followed with a similar shot, much to his dismay. And that left things on Overton’s shoulders, which is why on a quiet Tuesday practice round he backed off his tee shot not once, but twice, before also finding the putting surface.


Clutch stuff, eh?


“Hey, we don’t play a lot of team golf,” Overton said, “so it’s fun to do this, to get together and talk some smack.”


Chances are, you couldn’t have found this sort of action anywhere else at the Stadium Course. That’s because the business attitude has blanketed the tour, so many players following a ritual and a blueprint that calls for workout regimens, practice range time, couch work with the shrink, and appointments with the short-game coach, the putting coach, the full swing coach, the hybrid coach.


“But what these guys are doing,” Harmon said, “is what guys used to do all the time.”


Only thing is, with outrageous sums of money available, players don’t need the cash games like they once did, which is why guys such as Mickelson, Overton, Johnson, and Marino gravitate to one another. With Mark Calcavecchia on the Champions Tour, John Huston rarely in action, Paul Azinger somewhere riding his motorcycle, and John Daly more about selling merchandise out of his motor home than reviving his game, there are fewer and fewer candidates around to have matches like what Mickelson & Co. had at Whistling Straits at last summer’s PGA Champship. On that day, Overton matched Johnson’s birdie at the 17th to keep the match even and Mickelson birdied 18 to win.


The rematch was scheduled for Augusta, only rain washed it out. So it was agreed by all that early Tuesday of Players Championship week they’d gather at the first tee to continue the fun.


Fun, of course, being a relative term when competitive juices are flowing. At the par 5 11th hole, for instance, Overton missed the green to the left with his second shot and discovered casual water. He marked, inspected his options for so long, that Marino finally walked over.


“What’s going on? I’ve got to check on you,” Marino said.


At the par 3 13th, Mickelson was short of the green and pitched to 4 feet, then marked his ball. Conferring with Overton over a sliding 12 foot putt, Mickelson saw it moving to the left, his partner agreed, then rolled it. But he played far too much break and when it did move left, it took a slope, and rode hard down into a bowl some 40 feet away.


“Not quite that much,” Mickelson said, shaking his head.


No such problems at the 17th, because Overton cooly two-putted the island green to match Johnson, sending the competition to the 18th hole.


If you’re thinking the scenario was gift-wrapped for Mickelson, you’re right. He drove through the fairway and came to rest beneath a small tree. But after Johnson went long and Overton was short with easier shots, Mickelson did what Mickelson does best – created some magic. He hit a hard, low shot that hit short of the green and almost on cue from his urging it to “hop up there,” the ball did just that, then rolled right of the hole, turned left, and came to rest 12 feet away.


Johnson missed his birdie try, Overton covered that par, and no matter that it was just a practice round, Mickelson had the stage to himself.


And made the putt?


“Of course,” Johnson said, shaking his head.


So, it was sort of a repeat of Whistling Straits, eh, with Mickelson making birdie at the final hole to win?


“Let’s not talk about that,” Marino said.


But on a sultry practice day with so little going on, it was the only stuff worth talking about.

Golf Legend Ballesteros Dies

MADRID -- 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 was 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."

Ballesteros announced his retirement in a tearful press conference at Carnoustie before the 2007 British Open. Ballesteros had returned to Augusta National that year to play the Masters one last time, but shot 86-80 to finish last. After turning 50, he tried one Champions Tour event, but again came in last.

His back was ailing, his eyes were no longer as lively, and his best game had left him years earlier.

"I don't have the desire," said Ballesteros, who remained active in golf after he stopped playing regularly, mainly through golf course design.

His desire was as big a part of his game as any shot he manufactured from the trees, the sand -- just about anywhere.

Born April 9, 1957 in the tiny town of Pedrena, Spain, he learned golf with only one club -- a 3-iron -- that forced him to create shots most players could never imagine.

Ballesteros first gained major notoriety at 19 in the final round of the British Open at Royal Birkdale, where he threaded a shot through the bunkers and onto the green at the 18th hole, finishing second to Johnny Miller and in a tie with Jack Nicklaus.

"He invented shots around the green," Nicklaus said in the weeks before Ballesteros was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1999. "You don't find many big hitters like him with that kind of imagination and touch around the green. He's been a big inspiration to golf in continental Europe, more than anyone has."

Ballesteros went on to win the Order of Merit on the European tour that year, the first of six such titles. Two years later, he won the first time he teed it up in America, a one-shot victory at the Greater Greensboro Open.

Partly because of his humble roots, partly because of his Spanish blood, Ballesteros always played as though he had something to prove. Even after some called him "Car Park Champion" for his shot at Lytham when he won the 1979 British Open, the Spaniard showed that was no fluke when he arrived at Augusta National the next year.

He obliterated the field in the 1980 Masters, much like Tiger Woods did in 1997. Applying his genius to a course built for imagination, Ballesteros took a seven-shot lead into the final round and led by 10 at one point until he started spraying tee shots and won by four. Even so, at 23 he was the youngest Masters champion until Woods won at age 21.

Ballesteros won the Masters again in 1983, and he was equally dominant in golf's oldest championship. He won the British Open in 1984 at St. Andrews over Tom Watson, then won again at Lytham in 1988 by closing with a 65 -- the best score of the tournament -- to beat Price and Nick Faldo.

His career was marked by nasty disputes with European tour officials and PGA Tour officials. He quit the European tour in 1981 in a disagreement over appearance money, the only year he missed the Ryder Cup. He became angry with PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman in 1985 for not playing the required 15 events for membership.

Despite his five majors and 87 titles around the world, Ballesteros forever will be linked to the Ryder Cup. He developed an "us against them" attitude that became infectious with what had been an inferior European team. He made his teammates believe.

Ballesteros was headed for defeat in 1983 at PGA National, his ball beneath the lip of a bunker, some 245 yards from the green, when he lashed a 3-wood to the fringe and escape with a halve against Fuzzy Zoeller. The Americans narrowly won, but the Ryder Cup was never the same after that year -- and perhaps after that shot.

"His desire to beat the Americans was paramount, and probably the reason they beat us," Watson said. "The Ryder Cup became the focus of world golf, and Seve was right there as the leader."

He teamed with Jose Maria Olazabal to become the most formidable partnership in Ryder Cup history, producing an 11-2-2 record. In his final Ryder Cup, at Oak Hill in 1995, he was playing a singles match against Tom Lehman when Ballesteros drove wildly to the right.

A TV commentator said his only two choices were to pitch back to the fairway or play a big hook around a massive tree. Ballesteros studied his options, then hit over the green to the front of the green.

Such was the unpredictable nature of Ballesteros. There have not been many like him, if any at all.

"Seve is a genius, one of the few geniuses in the game," Ben Crenshaw once said. "The thing is, Seve is never in trouble. He's in the trees quite a lot, but that's not trouble for him. That's normal."

On Friday at the Spanish Open, Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez -- good friends of Ballesteros' -- were in tears as they came off the El Prat golf course upon learning of Ballesteros' deteriorating state. Olazabal and Ballesteros combined to form one of the greatest Ryder Cup pairs in history.

"What he did in sport is unbelievable," top-ranked tennis player Rafael Nadal said on Friday. "These are tough moments."

Ballesteros and his wife Carmen divorced in 2004. They had three children together.