It had all been going so well for Seve Ballesteros and Europe. Going into the final day of the 1983 Ryder Cup at Palm Beach Gardens in an alien position of parity, two hours into the singles Europe were ahead in six matches and level in four, with Ballesteros three up after 11 holes in the opening contest against Fuzzy Zoeller. The unthinkable was becoming a real possibility.
But some Ryder Cup Sundays are never that easy. The quest for those magical 14½ points becomes a real test of nerve, stamina, and mental toughness, both for players and spectators. The ebb and flow between red and blue, the cheers ringing around the course, and the magnitude of every single shot becomes suffocating.
Soon even Seve found himself swamped. Zoeller, who was suffering with a back injury, won four consecutive holes, his fightback a microcosm of the singles situation as gradually America edged back into the contest. "Seve had a little storm over the front nine and I caught my streak on the back nine," Zoeller said. The match of two halves was swinging Zoeller's way.
Yet Ballesteros was never a man to give in. Winning the 16th with a birdie, the Spaniard left a putt agonisingly short at the next to take the lead, meaning that as the pair walked to the 578-yard par five 18th the match was all square. Sand down the left, water to the right, the prospect of playing the last at the PGA National during the small matter of the Ryder Cup was frightening.
It was hardly surprising that both men found the rough from the tee. With skippers Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin in attendance, everyone knew the importance of this match dripping in tension. Ballesteros had been a revelation in just his second Ryder Cup, but Jacklin needed his talisman to deliver one more time.
Jacklin's first Ryder Cup as captain was always going to be carried out on his terms. First class travel, top quality clothing and equipment, regular caddies for players, and the concept of a team room were key components of getting the two-time major winner on board. But Europe's latest leader had another big task at the top of this to do list.
Missing out on Ryder Cup selection in 1981 after a row about appearance money in Europe, Ballesteros was fuming. "I felt really upset and decided never to play in the Ryder Cup again," Ballesteros reveals in his autobiography. But Jacklin knew he simply had to have Ballesteros in his team to take on the might of America.
Jacklin had also missed out on the 1981 team and at one point had washed his hands of the event. Yet once he had been confirmed as captain he sat down with Ballesteros in an attempt to persuade the three-time major winner to change his mind. After discussing the issue with his brothers, Ballesteros phoned Jacklin to give him the good news.
Gaining 2½ point from four matches in a partnership with the 20-year-old rookie Paul Way, Ballesteros had justified Jacklin's faith. But on Sunday October 16, Seve was in danger of throwing away his match. His second shot from the rough seemed to end his chances immediately. Only able to move the ball 30 yards, Ballesteros' ball found sand.
The jig looked up. With Zoeller able to reach the green in three, Ballesteros was 250-yards short and realistically the only option was to play an iron out of the bunker due to the lip in front of him, the lake between ball and the green, and the distance to travel.
"In normal circumstances I'd have chosen a 5 iron, but as it was matchplay and the last hole I took a big risk and opted for a 3 wood," Ballesteros explains in his autobiography. Caddie Nick De Paul expecting to reach for the 5 iron was stunned when Ballesteros uttered: "tres de madera". The ball was laying on an upslope, but even so, the shot selection seemed insane.
"The wind was blowing from left to right and I had no choice but to aim out of the left side of the bunker and to really dig the ball out, making sure it shot up straight away to avoid the slope," Ballesteros writes. "The ball flew some 225 metres to the edge of the green." Ballesteros had pulled off a miracle.
Sadly it is a shot that not many people have seen. Although the Ryder Cup was shown live for the first time in America on ABC, coverage was limited to two hours. So the mystery and almost mythical status of Seve's bunker shot at the 18th grows and grows as the years have progressed. Fortunately there are a number of notable eye witnesses who can be called upon to describe the moment.
Bernhard Langer recalled the shot. "I thought, what is he going to do with that? The ball was in the sand a few feet away from a two-foot lip. Then I saw the most amazing shot I have ever seen. He didn’t just clear the lip, he drew the ball, starting it out over the lake and on to the green." Nicklaus called it "the greatest shot I've ever seen."
The Guardian's David Davies wrote that the shot was "an unbelievable stroke in both concept and execution", later commenting: "It was an impossible shot and it was greeted first with a stunned silence, and then by incredulous laughter that greets something that is outwith the experience of the watcher." Other witnesses lucky enough to be there obviously agree.
Zoeller finished short of the green in three and both players would get up and down to halve the hole and the match. Seve may have been disappointed to have let his lead slip, but his escape at 18 did at least rescue a half point. Europe went on to lose by a single point, yet a new chapter of the Ryder Cup was beginning.
Ballesteros knew Europe's star was rising. "This is not a loss, it is a victory," Ballesteros told his glum looking teammates after the Americans had sealed their win. "He [Seve] just took all the positives out of the week and made everyone feel much, much better," Way stated. Two years later, That confidence and positivity would be justified at the Belfry.
That Ballesteros' shot during the 1983 Ryder Cup neatly summed up the career and the attitude of the great man. Putting himself in a tricky spot, somehow he got himself out of the situation. Never give up. Never take a backward step. Take the fight to your opponents. The very ingredients that combined so deliciously for European fans during the Miracle of Medinah in 2012, a triumph built using the Ballesteros template.
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