Seve's most famous shot sparked a celebration to savour
AS THE Home of Golf prepares to host the 150th Open Championship next week, Sportsmail takes a look at some of the enduring tales to have emerged over the St Andrews links down the years. In 1984, Seve Ballesteros recorded his ‘most fantastic shot’ on the 18th green to pip five-time Open champion Tom Watson for the Claret Jug...
TOM WATSON arrived at St Andrews in 1984 with his own personal treasure trove in the Open Championship. At that point, he more or less viewed the Claret Jug as his personal property.
Despite only being in his mid30s, he was already a five-time winner of the event, a run which included each of the previous two years, 1982 and 1983.
He was chasing a little piece of history as only the fifth man in history to win The Open three years in succession.
Watson was red-hot favourite to do so, given he had already won three times on the PGA Tour in 1984 by the time he reached St Andrews. He was also looking to complete the set in Scotland, having won four of his five Opens at Royal Troon, Turnberry, Muirfield and Carnoustie.
What unfolded was the one that got away, perhaps even more so than his heartbreak at Turnberry in 2009. Nobody had expected Watson to win that one. He was 59 and had no real form to speak of. It was almost super-human that he should even be in contention.
But, in 1984, he should have won. That he didn’t can be attributed to the mercurial talents of Severiano Ballesteros (right).
Seve had already tasted Open glory after being crowned Champion Golfer of the Year in 1979 at Royal Lytham.
That saw him dubbed the ‘Car Park Champion’ after a truly memorable shot from the most absurd position on the course.
But it was his final shot at St Andrews five years later which the man himself ranked as the finest of his entire career. ‘This was the happiest moment of my whole sporting life,’ said the Spaniard. ‘My moment of glory, my most fantastic shot.’ It was, of course, that memorable putt he holed on the 18th green at the Old Course. There followed one of golf ’s most iconic celebrations. Seve had started the final day two shots adrift of leaders Watson and Ian Baker-Finch. Watson had shot 71, 68, 66 across the first three days and was very much the man to beat heading into Sunday. Typically, Seve hadn’t read the script. With a clear sense of belief in his voice, he told reporters late on the Saturday night: ‘I’ll see you all here tomorrow.’ Asked what he had meant, he later said: ‘It was obvious I didn’t mean I was going to be there as runner-up. ‘I’d beaten Watson in the Masters the year before and, though I thought (Bernhard) Langer was very good, I didn’t think he was ready to win a major yet. As we say in Spain, don’t sell the bearskin before you’ve caught the bear. The first rule of golf is you must control your emotions. You should never imagine yourself holding the trophy before the game is over: golf is too unpredictable.’
Playing in the penultimate group alongside Langer, a couple of birdies on the front nine saw him go out in 34.
Watson, meanwhile, was struggling with a putter that had gone stone-cold. He threeputted three times in a front nine of 37 blows.
Seve now held the outright lead and had the momentum and support of a crowd dearly willing him to win.
With two holes to play, there was nothing separating the two. Seve made a miraculous par on the Road Hole 17th, only for Watson in the group behind to make bogey.
It proved a cardinal sin, with his second shot flying over everything and coming to rest up against the wall which sits beyond the green. ‘I just hit a terrible shot,’ he said. ‘Pushed it 30 yards right of where I was trying to hit it.’
It cost him a shot, with Seve now facing a 15-foot putt for birdie up ahead on the 18th. That was far from straightforward, with plenty of undulation and borrow. But he had no interest in lagging it up for a safe par.
As the ball tried desperately to turn and take the borrow, it eventually dropped almost sideways into the cup. Cue bedlam.
Seve’s joy was unconstrained. In his Sunday attire of navy and white, he beamed the broadest smile as he stood pumping his fist on the 18th green.
It remains an enduring image in Open Championship history. So iconic that a silhouette of his celebration was emblazoned on the team kit of the Team Europe side who achieved the Miracle of Medinah in 2012.
It was the first playing of the Ryder Cup since Seve’s tragic death in 2011 and it was clear his legacy had touched so many.