Magic touch seems to have deserted Ballesteros

IT WAS as if the pain in his handsome face was reflecting a sense of betrayal. How could his once majestic skills have deserted him in this way? How sad to recall the manner in which he once dominated this championship as a three-time winner.

"It was just a bad day," said Seve Ballesteros, with crushing simplicity after a second round of 78 had seen him miss yet another cut, on 11 over par.

Would he now feel obliged to change his tournament schedule having made only two cuts in 11 tournaments in Europe this season and been forced to withdraw after the first round of another? "I won't change my plans because of how I feel emotionally," he insisted. "That is something I would never do."

A day earlier, Ballesteros had indicated that he was most unlikely to claim the role of playing captain for himself in the forthcoming Ryder Cup matches. "It's difficult to score when you hit the ball all over the place," he said. "Unless things change dramatically, it's unlikely I'll play."

Now, any further questions on that issue appeared to be redundant. And one sensed that it was purely out of a sense of loyalty toga great colleague and friend that Jose-Maria Olazabal felt it might be otherwise.

Having played the opening 36 holes in Seve's company at Druids Glen, the once lesser half of the formidable Spanish Armada said: "It was not nice to see Seve like that, but I feel confident he can find a way back, even if it means starting from scratch."

Olazabal could empathise with the emotional pain of his compatriot, having himself faced a battle for more than golfing survival, over the last two years. "Yes, I have been down the same road - in a different way," he said. "You discover that there are times when you just have to hang on, believing things will get better."

Did he feel tempted to try and help Ballesteros by talking to him in the hope the problem could be shared? "Nobody can help him except himself," replied Olazabal, emphatically. "From my own experience, the only thing that I feel I can do is to support him; to let him know that I am ready if he needs me."

Olazabal concluded: "It is something you do on your own.

It was all so different from the first time they came together as Ryder Cup partners at Muirfield Village, Ohio, in 1987. Even before the European team had arrived there, a Spanish duo seemed an obvious pairing by the skipper, Tony Jacklin.

That was a time when, over a period of four successive years starting in 1983, Seve's record in the Irish Open was: first, tied third, first, first. And, of course, there was a second of three British Open triumphs, at St Andrews in 1984.

As it happened, Olazabal went through something of a Muirfield Village struggle yesterday, before securing his survival with a brilliant start to the back nine. After reaching the turn in 38 to be six over for the tournament at that stage, he went on to par at the 10th.

Then came a pitch and putt birdie at the long 11th and further birdies at the 12th and 13th, courtesy of putts of 12 and 15 feet. From then on, he carefully minded his business, carding five straight pars to the finish.

Ballesteros, meanwhile, was left with nothing but his pride. A double- bogey six at the ninth brought him to the turn in 41 and though be birdied the 11th and 17th on the homeward journey, they were more than outweighed by his bogeys.

In the circumstances, it was richly ironic that Paul McGinley, the other member of their three-ball, should have learned so much from the exercise. "Seve's dignity was absolutely superb," he said. "In the face of all his problems, he handled himself like the champion he is."

McGinley added: "The harsh reality is that he can't compete any more. And you could see how much the realisation of that was hurting him. Yet the manner in which he carried himself, became a wonderful lesson for me over the last two,, days. He's still the greatest.