How Seve needs a driving instructor
Surely someone can put him straight?
Who would want the job of teaching Seve Ballesteros how to drive again?
Colin Montgomerie reckons the Spanish legend could become a major force once more if someone could show him how to hit the fairways off the tee.
Not so sure about that, Monty – after all you’re one of the world’s straightest and we’re still waiting for yours – though there must be a driving instructor out there somewhere with enough strength of character to stand up to the peoples' champion and show him where he’s going wrong.
Monty’s own coach Denis Pugh has offered to help as have Peter Cowen, who keeps Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke on the straight and narrow, and Butch Harmon, Tiger’s guru. I’m sure David Leadbetter and Bob Torrance would have their sixpenny-worth if requested.
However, Seve prefers to do things his own way and perhaps the game is better for it if he does his own thing – at least it’s better than Arnold Palmer’s embarrassing double encore at The Masters.
As he showed in the depressingly dull Seve Trophy matches in the worst advertisement for golfing in Ireland you could imagine, the Spanish maestro can still light up any tournament, especially one that’s dying on its feet in the wet and gloom.
He rolled back the years to produce some memorable shots alongside Jose Maria Olazabal to defeat Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley then emerged as the only player with a 100 per-cent record with a narrow defeat of Monty in the singles.
It was all a bit of a sideshow to the main event which saw Great Britain and Ireland defeat Continental Europe by three points (14.5-11.5) over a Druids Glen course soaked by almost incessant rain.
Inspired by Ballesteros, Europe narrowly won the head-to-head last day singles with Alex Cejka and Miguel Angel Jimeneze inflicting heaving defeats on Ian Woosnam and Steve Webster but wins at the tail end for Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley clinched it.
After all the hullaballoo about Bernhard Langer and Sergio Garcia not taking part, I think it was proved they made the right choice. Let’s hope the Ryder Cup doesn’t also disintegrate into a similar meaningless charade.
Without Seve and Olazabal playing a part, I fear it might.
