Greg Allen said he will remembers Seve

Greg Allen said he will remembers Seve

It may seem a little odd at first glance to compare a musician to someone who plays the relatively conservative game of golf, but that's not really the point is it? It was the impact they each made in the worlds they inhabited which probably prompted McGinley's remark. A colleague, John Hopkins of the Times, wrote in 2008 that Seve's arrival on tour was like 'a brick through a window'. As Elvis hip-shaked his way through the 1950's, his arrival among the Buddy Hollys of the era and the Everly Brothers must have drawn similar comparisons.But there are two other compelling parallels which ensured their immortality as icons. They both died at a relatively young age and of course, when stars shine as brightly as they did, their surnames will never be required for instant recognitionEverybody who cares a little Sean Looking For A Brand New Swing Coach about the great game of golf should have a first memory of Seve's arrival. For this writer, who was a 15 year-old sports mad fan in 1976, 'the brick through the window moment' was a single shot during the final round of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, that is still burned indelibly in the memory.After Seve had given memorable chase to the eventual winner Johnny Miller, he faced a chip over bone-hard turf along a narrow ridge between two bunkers on the 72nd hole.The difficulty quotient was extreme but nevertheless he bumped and ran the ball along a razor edge to near tap-in range for a closing birdie and thereby secured a tie with Jack Nicklaus for second place which effectively launched his star into orbit.

He went on to birdie the hole with a twenty foot putt and subsequently triumphed by three strokes. While the car park reference was the tabloid line of the day, he would probably have won anyway and not just because he got a drop from open ground which just happened to have cars parked on it.Seve's extraordinary capacity to conjure up birdies and pars from positions on the course best reserved for wildlife, masked an equal and probably over-riding ability to play 'straight-down-the-middle' seamless golf when his all-round game came together which was more frequent than not during his best years in the 1980's. As he matured as a player, the dashing, slashing swing of his teens became quieter, more classic and certainly more controlled. That made him a consistent performer on the greatest stage of all, the majors, which provided the five most defining achievements of his career.