1984 Open Championship: Seve Ballesteros

Although he was 9/1 second favourite to win the 1984 Open Championship at St Andrews, the year Seve Ballesteros was experiencing had been far from ideal. Missing the cut as defending champion at the Masters - after being penalised two shots for grounding his club in Rae's Creek on the 13th - the Spaniard was not enjoying a fruitful season on the US PGA tour.

Ballesteros had pushed himself into contention for the US Open at the halfway stage, but a poor weekend saw him drift away, and as a record crowd flocked to the home of golf, many were pondering whether the 27-year-old was able to reverse his fortunes.

There were some journalists predicting a return to form. "The head says it must be Nicklaus or Watson," Ron Wills wrote in the Mirror. "The heart says Ballesteros. I'll take Seve." The Express' Mark Wilson doubted if Ballesteros could win at St Andrews, but knew he was capable. "It's like waiting for a famished lion to awake and devour everything in sight."

There were hopes that Nick Faldo could end Britain's 15-year wait for an Open champion, and Greg Norman - US Open runner-up and two-time winner on the US tour - was attracting attention. Yet it was hard to look beyond Tom Watson, who was aiming to win his third Open in a row and to equal Harry Vardon's record of six wins in the tournament.

A recent winner of the Western Open, Watson was top of the US money list - over $100,000 in front of his nearest challenger - and at 5/1 he was the overwhelming favourite at St Andrews. The Guardian's Peter Dobereiner highlighted the general feeling that dominated the tournament previews.

"We are all agreed, I take it, that by next Sunday evening we shall be celebrating Tom Watson's achievement of equalling Harry Vardon's record six victories." He may have been slightly overconfident with this statement, but Dobereiner was accurate in relation to where the Claret Jug would be won or lost.

"We can be certain that the Road Hole will again play a decisive part in settling the outcome of this Open. I can hardly wait to watch its mischief." The par-four 17th would indeed play a key role. "It is truly a par four and a half," Jack Nicklaus said prior to the first round. "If you get two fours and two fives in a tournament you can be pleased."

With very little rain in the weeks prior to the Open, the Old Course would be yellow/brown, playing hard and fast, very much favouring those who liked traditional links courses. Eventually the tournament would come down to a battle between two golfers that would win eight Claret Jugs combined. But before that point, there was many an Open story created.

Often a relative unknown will excel in the opening round - think Nick Job, Bobby Clampett or Wayne Stephens - and on Thursday July 19, it was Scotland's Bill Longmuir who would be joint leader after the first day. Longmuir's five-under-par total of 67 saw him sit proudly at the top of the leaderboard with Norman and American Peter Jacobsen.

Norman had reached -6 at one point, but a bogey at 17 checked his progress, just as it did with a lot of the field. Ballesteros produced a fantastic up and down to rescue "a bogey that felt like a birdie", on his way to -4 (the same score as Faldo), but throughout the week the hole would wreak havoc. Watson took eleven shots at the hole over the first two days. Longmuir's dream turned into a nightmare on day two.

Reaching 17 on -9, Longmuir went out of bounds, carded a 7 and never recovered. Ballesteros would play two shots out of the greenside bunker on his way to another bogey at 17 in round two, as an Australian surged into the lead at the halfway point.

It was not the Australian everyone expected. Norman carded consecutive 74s to drop away, leaving fellow countryman Ian Baker-Finch to fly the flag. Carding a 66 on day two to go with a first round 68, the 23-year-old Queenslander, playing in his first major, held a three-shot lead over Ballesteros, Faldo, and Lee Trevino. Watson was lurking dangerously, five shots behind the leader.

Hopes of a British win were high. Faldo, going out in the last group with Baker-Finch, was aiming to right the wrongs of his collapse at Birkdale in the previous year. Sadly his game at the time was simply not up to the pressures of winning a major. A three-putt on the first signalled the day that awaited him. A disastrous 76 ended Faldo's challenge.

Initially. the pressure did not appear to impact Baker-Finch. Reaching -13 by the 5th hole of his third round, he led the Open by four shots, yet gradually Watson started to crank through the gears. Three Baker-Finch bogeys on the back nine, combined with a round of 66 for Watson - "This was one of the best rounds of golf I have ever played" - saw the pair tied at -11 going into the final day.

With Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer trailing by two shots, and the next best seven behind the leaders, it looked like a four-horse race for the Open. However, as the day progressed, it became apparent that a duel in the sun was unfolding between Ballesteros and Watson. Langer missed putt after putt to thwart his chances, and Baker-Finch would experience the day from hell.

Finding the Swilcan Burn on the 1st hole, Baker-Finch shot a 79 to finish tied for ninth. Seven years later, the Australian would lift the Claret Jug, but in 1984 he did not have the mental strength to deal with his watery setback on the opening hole. The disappointment at St Andrews would be a valuable learning curve, though.

And then there were two. Both Ballesteros and Watson took turns to take the lead on that memorable final day, and after 70 holes the situation was clear: tied on -11, Ballesteros and Watson faced a moment of destiny with the Road Hole.

Three times Ballesteros had bogeyed the 17th. But playing ahead of Watson on Sunday, Ballesteros played a memorable six-iron from the rough to the front of the green to set up a par. "That was the shot that won the Open," David Davies noted in the Guardian. Two putts secured his par, as Davies commented that Ballesteros "marched on to the 18th tee, jaw jutting".

Looking back after his tee shot at 18, Ballesteros spotted Watson ideally placed on the 17th fairway. "Well, Watson is on the fairway and Watson is Watson," Ballesteros thought at the time. "He is going to make a par and he can make a birdie at any time. We need something better than a four. It's a birdie to win."

Yet Watson seemed unusually indecisive as he stood over his 210-yard second shot. "I had the perfect angle to attack the pin, but I was not sure of the club I needed. At first I thought it was a three-iron, then I went for a two-iron, but I pushed it. I knew as soon as I hit it that it was a bad shot."

Watson looked on in horror as his shot ended up bouncing across the road and ending perilously close the wall. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," BBC commentator Bruce Critchley sighed. "Watson had been faced with a real championship-or-not shot, and for once in his glorious year he made a mess of it," Davies noted.

Ballesteros was unaware of Watson's struggles, concentrating on making the three down the last that he felt would win him the Open. Playing his second to within 15-feet of the hole, Ballesteros explains in his autobiography the putt that would become an iconic moment in sporting history.

"The putt had a clear borrow to the left, but as I struck the ball, I felt I had overdone it. I hadn't. It rolled sweetly towards the hole, then seemed to hover on the edge of the cup, before finally going in as if in slow motion, perhaps impelled by my powers of mental suggestion, so strong was my desire that it should drop in."

Punching the air and shouting "la meti" ("I put it in") an infectious smile spread across Ballesteros' face. "This was the happiest moment of my sporting life. My most fantastic shot. So much so that the picture of me gesturing in triumph is now the logo for my companies." This image, and his navy Slazenger jumper, would play a role at another memorable golfing event 28 years later.

Watson, unable to make a par on 17, now needed an eagle on the last to reach Ballesteros' mark of -12 (a new Open record at the Old Course). Finding the fairway, he walked the 93-yards from his ball to the green on the 18th, hoping to produce a miracle. "The very moment he hit the ball he knew that the eagle he needed was not about to be landed," Davies wrote as Watson's shot found the green but not the hole. Watson finished joint runner-up with Langer.

"I can't tell you just what it means to win at St Andrews," Ballesteros said. "It's the best tournament in the world and the best course in the world. It suits my game perfectly." Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Peter Thomson, and Nicklaus had all won an Open champion at the Old Course. Ballesteros had joined some greats in the sport.

For Watson the final round at St Andrews seemed to be the day that the music died. A slump in form saw him miss out on the 1985 US Ryder Cup team, and although he would contend at other majors in the future, the one that got away at the home of golf must have hit him hard. The one that got away in 2009 crushed a lot of us, though.

Yet one man's sorrow is another man's joy, and for this particular blogger, the 1984 Open will always have a special place in my heart. The first major I watched on television, the sight of Seve punching the air was enough to get me hooked for life, as he instantly became a hero in my eyes.

I was devastated when Seve passed away in 2011. But we will always have the memories of what he did for European golf, his Ryder Cup exploits, his US Masters wins, his ability to escape out of the impossible. And I'll forever be grateful for that Sunday in July 1984 when his smile lit up St Andrews as well as my living room.