Ballesteros thankful for 'free shot' at life

NEWS ROUND-UP:SEVE BALLESTEROS has made his first official public appearance since undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumour last December.

The 52-year-old was speaking at the launch of a cancer federation that will bear his name in Spain, and he admitted he has felt like he has been given a second chance at life.

“The first thing that I told the doctors after I woke up from the anaesthetic was that my new name was Seve Mulligan,” he said in reference to the golf “rule” which permits a player to retake a shot.

“Nine months ago my life was hanging by a thread. I feel now like I have a Mulligan in life.”

The five-time major winner was diagnosed with a brain tumour after losing consciousness at Madrid Airport last October.

He spent the next 66 days in La Paz hospital in Madrid where he underwent four operations before being allowed to return to his home in Bilbao on December 9th.

Ballesteros has been receiving chemotherapy since, and yesterday got the chance to praise the doctors who performed the operations to remove the tumour, describing their work as “a miracle”.

The charismatic Spaniard also likened his fight against the ailment to the birdie putt he sank on the 18th at St Andrews to help win the British Open in 1984.

He added: “My recovery is like The Open in 1984 when the ball hovered on the lip of the hole. With all my energy I willed the ball to drop in and it did. With that ability and the doctors’ hands, I am here now.”

Meanwhile, six countries – France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden – intend to bid for the 2018 Ryder Cup. The deadline for the submission of bids is the end of next April, with the announcement expected in 2011.

Celtic Manor in Wales plays host next year, and the 2014 contest is at Gleneagles in Scotland. But when both were selected it was decided that after that the European home match would return to the Continent.

Valderrama in Spain staged the event in 1997, the only time it has gone to the Continent.

European Ryder Cup director Richard Hills said: “We have set the date by which bids must be received in order to provide each country with the optimum opportunity in the current economic climate to present their strongest possible bid.”