Seve Ballesteros suffers setback in cancer fight

Associated Press

MADRID

Golf great Seve Ballesteros suffered “severe deterioration” in his recovery from a cancerous brain tumor, a development that brought some players to tears as they considered his massive effect on golf in Europe and around the world.

The 54-year-old Ballesteros was resting at home in the northern Spanish town of Pedrena, where has mostly been since undergoing four operations in late 2008, his family said Friday.

“The family will inform accordingly about any change in his health condition and takes this opportunity of thanking everyone for the support that both Seve and his own family have been receiving during all this time,” said a statement on his website.

It said his “neurological condition has suffered a severe deterioration.”

Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez were visibly upset after the second round of the Spanish Open. Olazabal formed the indomitable “Spanish Armada” with Ballesteros in the Ryder Cup, where they lost only two matches. Jimenez was a vice captain under Ballesteros on Europe’s winning team in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama.

“We tried to talk to them after their rounds but they couldn’t even speak because they were crying. They couldn’t even talk,” Spanish Open spokeswoman Maria Acacia Lopez-Bachiller said.

The thought of Ballesteros in such grave condition was felt around the world, from the PGA Tour event in North Carolina, and especially at a Champions Tour event in Alabama, which featured players who competed against Ballesteros.