Sam Torrance: Seve Ballesteros and the moment that transformed my career
I have been fortunate enough to accummulate many great memories in my career.
Obvious highlights include winning the Pro-Am at the Dunhil Links Championship alongside my son Daniel in 2003 and the Ryder Cup triumphs of 1985, as a player, and 2002, as captain.
But without doubt the most poignant moment of my playing days came in 1980, when I won the Australian PGA Championship – and it’s one that changed my career.
I remember playing my third round alongside Greg Norman and I managed to stay ahead going into the last day. I was then paired with Seve Ballesteros, who had won The Open the previous year, for my final round.
On 17 I had a birdie putt from about eight or 10 feet to go two shots ahead. I’ve got a video of it. As I hole it, the commentator says: “That’s it, they won’t catch him now.” And they didn’t.
We came off the 18th green and I shook hands with Seve. “San,” he said – he always pronounced it “San” rather than “Sam” – “you’re very tough to beat, eh?”
I had already been on the European Tour for nine years and had won a few times. But I wasn’t prolific and hadn’t made a Ryder Cup team yet.
So for a legend to say that to me meant a lot. It was life-changing.
Playing into the wind
I’d known Seve for a few years by this point. He joined the tour in 1974 and knew everyone.
One of the first times I spoke to him was memorable for different reasons and showed his sense of humour.
We were on the range in Italy when Seve passed wind. It was the vilest smell you can imagine and people were running for cover, their eyes streaming.
I said something to him along the lines of: “Hey, Seve, what was that?”. He didn’t speak much English but, defending the smell, he replied: “I eat food, not flowers.”
Did Jimenez benefit from Seve factor too?
After that 1980 victory in Australia, I started to win more regularly and I made my Ryder Cup debut for Europe the following year.
Two decades later I had 21 European Tour wins and eight Ryder Cup appearances. I put a lot of that down to Seve.
I look at Miguel Angel Jimenez and wonder whether he went through a similar experience.
Jimenez was 33 and had been on the European Tour for almost a decade, winning twice, when he was named one of Seve’s vice-captains for the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama.
His career really took off after that and he won 19 more times on the tour in the following 17 years. Did something Seve said to his fellow Spaniard help Jimenez?
In any walk of life, self-belief is everything. There is no point starting something that you don’t think you can do, but if you believe you can do it then you can.
Seve’s words gave me the belief to do what I did next.