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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games > Golf
Golf fans will not forget the 39th Ryder Cup in a hurry. Staged at
the Medinah Country Club just outside of Chicago, the 2012 event
has already gone down as the most remarkable competition in its
85-year history. The American team had home advantage, and a golf
course unapologetically set up to suit its own players. Supported
by tens of thousands of loud and proud fans, the USA's star-studded
line-up dominated the first two days and ended the Saturday with a
seemingly unassailable 10-6 advantage. No away team had ever won
the Ryder Cup from such an unpromising position. Sunday was singles
day, traditionally the forte of American teams. The situation
looked bleak, especially when European team member and number 1
golfer in the world, Rory McIlroy, very nearly missed his tee-off
time. Yet slowly but surely, the European team - who had top-loaded
their line-up in one last throw of the dice - started to turn the
scoreboard blue. With inspirational captain Jose Maria Olazabal
stiring European blood with thoughts of the late Ryder Cup magician
Seve Ballesteros (whose silhouette was emblazoned on the players'
sweaters and bags), the tide turned and the previously dominant
American players started to crumble in the face of the onslaught.
Suddenly European players were holing miraculous putts to win holes
out of the blue. Something very special was happening. When German
Martin Kaymer sank his putt on the eighteenth green to clinch the
point that retained the Ryder Cup, the most astonishing comeback in
the event's long and distinuished history was complete. Miracle at
Medinah is the compelling narrative of those amazing three days in
Illinois, a fitting chronicle of an unbelievable sporting story.
Now the subject of a major film. Once or twice a generation, an
athlete transcends his sport - at last, here's Seve Ballesteros in
his own words There are golfers, and there are golfers. And then
there's Seve. Severiano Ballesteros was perhaps the most naturally
gifted golfer ever to have walked a fairway. From the moment his
brother Manuel gave him his first club he was unstoppable. A few
weeks before his seventeenth birthday he turned pro. Five years
later he won the Open. A genius had arrived. For the best part of
two decades Seve dominated the golfing landscape. He played shots
others could only dream of. With 94 wins as a professional
(including 5 majors) he was a phenomenon, an athlete who
transcended his sport. But Seve stood for more than simple
excellence. Almost single-handedly, Seve gave European golf
credibility; almost single-handedly, he made the Ryder Cup one of
the greatest contests in world sport. And when, as captain, he
finally lifted the trophy on home soil in 1997, a whole continent
rejoiced. His pride and passion have inspired millions, and we have
taken him to our hearts. Here, for the first time, Seve tells his
own story. From his humble beginnings right up to the present day,
here at last is the man behind the magic in his own words. Seve is
utterly entertaining, blazingly charismatic and unique. Severiano
"Seve" Ballesteros Sota was a Spanish professional golfer and a
leading sports figure. He won more than 90 international
tournaments in an illustrious career. He first caught the attention
of the sporting world in 1976, when at the age of 19 he finished
second at The Open. He played a leading role in the re-emergence of
European golf, helping the European Ryder Cup team to five wins
both as a player and captain. He won the World Match Play
Championship a record-tying five times. He is generally regarded as
the greatest Continental European golfer of all time and won a
record 50 times on the European Tour. Ballesteros died of brain
cancer on 7 May 2011, aged 54.
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Gitca Golf
(Paperback)
Kelley Peter
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