Over 600 children have participated in the programme ‘Seve & Jon golf for kids’ inspired by Seve Ballesteros’ magic and Jon Rahm’s appeal. They know all about Seve through watching his videos and hearing the stories of his feats both at home and in their golf lessons. As for Jon, they had the privilege of sharing an unforgettable day of golf with their hero at Meaztegi Golf, a Seve-designed public golf course in Ortuella, a mining town near Bilbao.

After competing during the summer in five qualifiers, eighty boys and girls under 16 made it to the final event of the ‘Seve & Jon golf for kids’, a joint initiative by Jon Rahm and the Seve Ballesteros Foundation aimed at introducing the game of golf and its values to the younger generations.

This year, the inaugural sub-16 tour featured five qualifying events at Pedreña, Basozábal, Ulzama, Neguri and Larrabea in order to earn a spot in the final at Ortuella. The format – Drive, Chip, Putt – is key to the success of the event, as it provides an exciting show and creates an enjoyable experience in order to attract the kids to the game.  

In addition to organizers Jon Rahm and Javier Ballesteros, a very special group of volunteers joined the initiative guiding the contestants through the various stages of the competition: Miguel Ballesteros, Eriz Rahm and professionals Ángel Matallana, Iñigo Moral, Álvaro Celles, Jesús Legarrea, Íñigo Urquizu, Mikel Galdós, Chisco Lagarto, Alfredo García Heredia and Ander Padura

Daniela San José, Ignacio Irízar, Lucía Núñez, Xanet Izquierdo, Marina and Patricia Sabin, Santiago Jáuregui and Mikel Enazábel are the winners of this inaugural edition. After the prize giving, Jon Rahm and Javier Ballesteros held a press conference with Seve very much present in the minds of all.

Javier Ballesteros:

Seve and Jon: “Joining both their names is really special; since the idea was born, we are all delighted in our family. Jon has said many times that my father is his hero, and they actually have many things in common; both are thoroughbreds and have a special passion. Jon is the present and the future in golf, and has what it takes to win Majors and many tournaments. Both are long hitters and Jon has magic around the greens, as did my father. Both have special hands, and that is a big asset in golf.”

Fundación Seve Ballesteros: “We are taking things slowly but surely because we want to be very clear in our own minds about the purpose and destination of our father’s legacy. We have two foundational aims: brain tumour research through the laboratory that bears his name, and collaboration with the National Cancer Research Centre CNIO. We have built a special facility at the Hospital Valdecilla in Santander where the children patients can play golf, and we also collaborate with the Aladina Foundation.”

Seve’s Majors: “For me it will always be the ’84 Open that gave origin to the logo of our father pumping the air with his fist. The British crowds showed how much they loved him, and winning the Open at St Andrews – You couldn’t ask for more!

“In 2006 I caddied for him. The first day we played with Ian Poulter and Shaun Micheel, and he got such an incredible ovation that it gave me the goose bumps. He only played that year because I asked him to. I was 16, and that week will be forever with me.”

Jon Rahm:

Seve Ballesteros: “Joining my name with Seve’s is an honour and a dream. Seve has always been my hero and my model. I am delighted when people say that that I am like him in some ways because I want to follow in his footsteps. When the younger golfers watch me in video in the future, I would like to make them feel what Seve did for me. I am happy to promote golf amongst children and I take it as my mission for the future of golf. Hopefully this initiative will continue to grow.”

The children: “This morning, when we came into the room packed with kids and I saw the admiration, the excitement and the joy in their faces; when they all came for autographs, I realized the purpose of all this. If they go home believing that they can go far, some of them will make it. If this initiative continues, some kid is sure to appear who is talented and motivated enough to reach the top in golf.”

A very special moment: “On Sunday at the Ryder Cup, just before my last putt a spectator shouted: “¡Viva Seve!” – I couldn’t think of a better moment on a golf course.”

Seve’s videos: “One of my favourites is a 45-minute video of the back nine of his ’79 Open victory, the first he won. He played with Hale Irwin, saving pars and making birdies from all over the place. He celebrates the birdie on 13 as if he had already won. Just his way of walking was incredible, and Irwin waving the white handkerchief – Fantastic!” 

Sunday at the Open de España: “I felt really proud because I have been fortunate enough to be Spanish champion in the cadet, junior and boy’s categories, and I very much wanted to win as a professional at the Centro Nacional, the home of the Spanish Federation, where I spent a lot of time as a junior. It was the most difficult tournament to win because I had to combine my desire to win with the expectations of the crowd. I have never felt such a support for each and every one of my shots, and it was hard to keep up with that. When I finally made it, I was mentally drained.”

“Seve & Jon golf for kids” has the institutional backing of the Bizkaia Provincial Council and the unconditional support of the Tamoin company. It also enjoys the collaboration of TaylorMade, the Royal Spanish Golf Federation and the Autonomous Federations of Cantabria, Navarre and the Basque Country, Real Golf de Pedreña, Real Nuevo Club de Golf Basozábal, Club de Golf Larrabea, Club de Golf Ulzama and Real Sociedad de Golf de Neguri.

• Launch of the “Seve & Jon golf for kids” sub-16 tour, featuring five qualifying events and a final.
• The opening event will be held next Thursday at Real Golf de Pedreña.

Jon Rahm and Seve Ballesteros’s three children, Javier, Miguel and Carmen, have joined forces in an initiative aimed at introducing the game of golf and its values to the younger generations. To this end, they are launching the “Seve & Jon golf for kids” tour for boys and girls under 16. The programme, comprising five qualifying events and a final, will be held at facilities across Cantabria, Navarre and the Basque Country.

The contestants will test their skills in three aspects of the game: distance, short game and putting. Each event is limited to a maximum of 120 participants by order of registration, and each player may enter only one qualifier. The contestants will compete under the following age categories:

• Boys and girls 10 years and under (maximum handicap 54.0) – 25 players
• Boys and girls 11-12 years (maximum handicap 48.0) – 25 players
• Boys 13-14 years (maximum handicap 42.0) – 20 players
• Girls 13-14 years (maximum handicap 42.0) – 20 players
• Boys 15-16 years (maximum handicap 36.0) – 15 players
• Girls 15-16 years (maximum handicap 36.0) – 15 players

Seve & Jon golf for kids schedule:

• August 23 – Real Golf de Pedreña (Cantabria)
• August 28 – Real Nuevo Club de Golf Basozábal (San Sebastián, Guipúzcoa)
• August 29 – Club de Golf Larrabea (Legutio, Álava)
• September 4 – Club de Golf Ulzama (Navarra)
• September 5 – Real Sociedad de Golf de Neguri (Getxo, Vizcaya)
• Final event presided by Jon Rahm TBD in December at Meaztegi Golf (Ortuella, Vizcaya)

Participants must sign up through their respective Autonomous Golf Federation. All registration fees – €15 – will be donated to the Aladina Foundation, a cancer support group offering a holistic approach of care for young cancer patients and their families.

The format of each event consists of three contests – distance, short game and putting – for all the participants. This format is designed to create an enjoyable experience in order to attract the kids to the game of golf and its inherent values. Points will be awarded for performance in each contest, and the total number of points will make up the player’s score.

There will be trophies for the first three in each category, who will be entitled to enter the final event at Meaztegi Golf (Ortuella, Vizcaya), hosted by Jon Rahm and Seve Ballesteros’s children in December. Every participant will receive a gift.

Besides the full involvement of leading actors, Jon Rahm and Javier, Miguel, and Carmen Ballesteros, as well as the support of Tamoin, the “Seve & Jon golf for kids” sub-16 tour enjoys the collaboration of TaylorMade, the Royal Spanish Golf Federation and the Autonomous Federations of Cantabria, Navarre and the Basque Country.

Jon Rahm: “I am honoured to launch this golf tour for children and to be part of this great opportunity of promoting our sport. I have said many times that Seve means everything to me, he was my hero and he is a truly indisputable benchmark in Spanish golf. I took up golf thanks to Seve; he inspired me to be where I am today, so I am proud and excited to share this initiative that bears his name. We have selected an enjoyable format because we want the kids to have fun and want them to come back. A very special thank you to Javier, Miguel and Carmen for their support, for including me in this project, and for making another dream come true. Best of luck to all the participants and see you in December!”

Javier Ballesteros: “One of the key objectives in our father’s career was promoting golf. Carmen, Miguel and I are most grateful to Jon for joining this project. Jon is doing incredible things in golf and we are delighted to share with him this initiative that would make our father proud. The aim of Seve & Jon golf for kids is to introduce golf to children, to inspire them, and to teach them the values of sport following the example set by our father and by Jon. We are really excited by this unique project.”

Tommy Fleetwood wins Seve Ballesteros Award for the first time

Fleetwood triumphed in Abu Dhabi and France in 2017 on his way to winning The Race to Dubai

Award, voted by European Tour players, recognises the legacy left to the game by Ballesteros

Tommy Fleetwood has been awarded The Seve Ballesteros Award – formerly the Players’ Player Award – winning the 2017 vote by his fellow professionals at the end of a breakthrough season which saw him claim the Race to Dubai for the first time in his career.

The award is voted for by every European Tour Member at the end of a season and carries the name of the legendary Spaniard, who remains one of golf’s most inspirational icons and will always be considered one of the European Tour’s greatest ever ambassadors.

Fleetwood started the season by clinching his second European Tour title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship ahead of a star-studded field, and continued his good form in the weeks to follow with runner-up finishes at the WGC-Mexico Championship and Shenzhen International.

It was an impressive one shot victory at the HNA Open de France in July – the second Rolex Series event of the year – which had the 26 year old marching towards his best season yet on the European Tour. Fleetwood was in contention for his first Major win at the U.S Open at Erin Hills, eventually securing a fourth place finish, and then went on to add his name to the history books, carding a course record 63 on the formidable Carnoustie during the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

It would be a year to remember for Fleetwood as he broke inside the top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in his career and produced ten top-ten finishes to see him sit just 256,737 points ahead of his fellow countryman Justin Rose going into the season-end DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.

The Englishman finished tied 21st, and in doing so, became the first Englishman since Luke Donald in 2011 to win the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex and sign off the year as European Number One.

Fleetwood said: “Winning the Seve Ballesteros award has actually made me the most emotional out of all the things I’ve won. It is voted for by the players and for me there’s still so many guys that when I come out, I was looking up to and you watch people on the range and you try to learn from them.

“I’ve made a lot of friends, and I think for people to vote for me as Players’ Player of the Year is just something else. It’s different to anything I’ve achieved before. It’s a very flattering and very humbling.”

Fleetwood was presented with his award by European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley and Tournament Committee Chairman David Howell, during his media conference at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA.

Pelley said: “Tommy had a remarkable season on the European Tour and is a truly deserving winner of The Seve Ballesteros Award. He has always been a popular figure among his peers and we have all enjoyed watching his rise through the golfing ranks over the past 18 months.”

Howell added: “Watching the diligent way you’ve gone about being a professional golfer over the years, being so disciplined, dedicated and driven, it’s very fitting that you went on to have the amazing year that you had last year.

“The European Tour’s proud to be a tour that allows people to play and rise to the top of the game. You’ve done that mainly on The European Tour and you’ve become a star of world golf. You’re a great character for the game and it’s with pride that we have you as a European Tour Member. Congratulations, it’s very well deserved.”

Javier Ballesteros, Seve’s eldest son, said: “It is great to see Tommy Fleetwood receiving the Players’ Player of the Year Award, now the Seve Ballesteros Award, in honour to our father. He’s had a sensational year, not just because he has won twice but mainly for his consistency and the way he has played all season. My brothers, Miguel and Carmen, and I are delighted, we think he is a great competitor who has also achieved the recognition of his fellow professionals”.

The Seve Ballesteros Award – an impressive silver and gold circular plate 46cm in diameter – has the names of all the European Tour members who have won Major Championships, starting with Seve’s own Open triumph at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1979, inscribed around the central image which is of his famous fist-pumping celebrations on the 18th green of the Old Course at St Andrews after his Open win there in 1984.

It also has the names of all the previous winners of the European Tour Players’ Player of the Year award inscribed around the outer circle, those being: Padraig Harrington (2008), Lee Westwood (2009), Martin Kaymer (2010), Rory McIlroy (2011, 2014 and 2015), Luke Donald (2012), and Henrik Stenson (2013, 2016).

Finally, around Seve’s central image is a quote from the European Tour’s founding father, the late John Jacobs OBE, whose words sum up how most people in the game felt about the Spaniard: It simply says: “Seve’s supreme talent, flair and passion for golf inspired millions around the world.”

Henrik Stenson is the first recipient of the newly named Award

Award recognises the legacy left to the game by Ballesteros

Renaming of the award comes in the year when Ballesteros would have been 60

The European Tour is today delighted to announce that the annual Players’ Player of the Year Award has been renamed The Seve Ballesteros Award.

The award is voted for by every European Tour Member at the end of a season and will now carry the name of the legendary Spaniard, who became the first European golfer to win the Masters Tournament in 1980, and who repeated the victory three years later.

The first recipient of The Seve Ballesteros Award will be Sweden’s Henrik Stenson who was the overwhelming winner of the 2016 vote by his fellow professionals at the end of a season which saw him claim his first major title in the Open Championship at Royal Troon as well as win the Race to Dubai for the second time in four seasons.

Stenson said: “Having won the Players’ Player of the Year award once before I know how special this award is. I am truly honoured to be the first player to receive it after it has been renamed The Seve Ballesteros Award. Seve was one of my idols and an icon of the game, which makes it that much more special to receive this from my peers.”

The announcement comes three weeks before the annual gathering for the season’s first Major Championship at Augusta National and was made by European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley at a gathering at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, the venue where Ballesteros won his 50th, and last, European Tour title in the 1995 Open de España. It is doubly appropriate as it also comes in the year when Ballesteros, who died in 2011, would have celebrated his 60th birthday – on Masters Sunday, April 9.

Aside from his Masters triumphs, Ballesteros won the Open Championship on three occasions – at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1979 and 1988, and at St Andrews in 1984 – and was also hugely influential in helping make The Ryder Cup the global golfing spectacle it is today.

He played eight times against the United States, winning 22 ½ points from 37 matches, and struck up a partnership with compatriot José Maria Olazábal that, to this day, remains the most potent in Ryder Cup history.

He also went on to become the first player from Continental Europe to captain a Ryder Cup side which he did in his own swashbuckling and flamboyant manner at Valderrama in 1997, leading Europe to a memorable 14 ½ – 13 ½ triumph.

Javier Ballesteros, Seve’s eldest child, who will officially present the award to Stenson during this year’s first Rolex Series event on the European Tour – the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club – said, “On behalf of my brother Miguel, my sister Carmen and myself, I would like to thank everybody at the European Tour, and Keith Pelley in particular, for renaming the Players’ Player of the Year Award as The Seve Ballesteros Award.

“It is a huge tribute to our father which will continue to keep his legacy alive. We are thrilled with the idea that the award voted for by the players themselves will be the one that lives on into the future and bears his name.

“Our father grew up and developed as a player on the European Tour and I’m sure he would be thrilled and very proud of such a recognition.”

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “No golfer did more to popularise the game in Europe than Seve Ballesteros and it is a great privilege to be able to ensure that his name will live on, on the European Tour, with this award.

“He was one of the most talented and exciting golfers ever to play our great sport and above all he was a players’ player, which is what makes this award even more appropriate. Special thanks must go to Javier Ballesteros who has been gracious and helpful in the discussions we have had in recent months and who is a credit not only to his late father, but to the whole Ballesteros family.

“It is also fitting that the inaugural award goes to Henrik Stenson following his win in last year’s Open – the major championship won three times by Seve himself – and in a thrilling manner at Royal Troon that was reminiscent of the great man at his best.”

The Seve Ballesteros Award – a glittering silver and gold circular plate 46cm in diameter – has the names of all the European Tour members who have won Major Championships, starting with Seve’s own Open triumph at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 1979, inscribed around the central image which is of his famous fist-pumping celebrations on the 18th green of the Old Course at St Andrews after his Open win there in 1984.

It also has the names of all the previous winners of the European Tour Players’ Player of the Year award inscribed around the outer circle, those being: Padraig Harrington (2008), Lee Westwood (2009), Martin Kaymer (2010), Rory McIlroy (2011, 2014 and 2015), Luke Donald (2012), and Stenson himself in 2013.

Finally, around Seve’s central image is a quote from the European Tour’s founding father John Jacobs OBE, who sadly passed away in January, but whose words sum up how most people in the game felt about the Spaniard; It simply says: “Seve’s supreme talent, flair and passion for golf inspired millions around the world.”