Seve accepts his punishment

Severiano Ballesteros has been fined and "severely reprimanded" by his peers on the European Tour. The amount of the fine was undisclosed but is expected to exceed the £5,000 which was the previous record sum.

The judgment was handed down by Mark James, chairman of the tour's disciplinary body, the Tournament Players Committee. He said: "The decisions were unanimous, but obviously it is with great reluctance that any committee would fine someone like Seve."

The Spaniard left before he knew the result of their deliberations, leaving behind only a short written statement, in which he said: "We had a good meeting and it was very brief. I said what I had to say and I tried to defend myself in a way I thought was fair. They listened to me and I will accept what the committee decides because they represent the players."

Ballesteros had been penalised a stroke for slow play, refused to accept it and when his marker wrote down a five for the hole concerned, the Spaniard changed it to a four, the number of strokes he had actually taken.

The fine was imposed for the intemperate remarks he made to referees during the Spanish and Italian Opens. He accused officials of persecuting him over slow play and referred to the tour overall as "a mafia".