Ballesteros' legacy lives on

t is four months now since Seve Ballesteros died, but if ever there was a week to remember him this is it.
The Omega European Masters in Switzerland is an event Ballesteros won three times - he was the last player to make a successful defence in 1978 - and it takes place on a Crans-sur-Sierre course that bears his name and which he re-designed.
But, more than anything, it is where the great man played arguably the greatest shot of his glittering career.
In 1993, Ballesteros needed a closing birdie to have a chance of grabbing the title again and the chances of it looked minimal when he carved his drive to within a few feet of a seven-foot high swimming pool wall.
With trees all around there appeared no option but to chip out onto the fairway, but to the amazement of everyone watching - and his caddie Billy Foster, now Lee Westwood's bag-man - the former world number one decided on another route.
He saw a tiny gap in the branches just above the wall, opened the face of a pitching wedge - he did not think a sand-wedge would go far enough - and swung.
The ball sailed through the gap, came down on the fringe of the green and Ballesteros chipped in.
Barry Lane spoilt the story somewhat by striking back to win by one - it was the month he made his Ryder Cup debut - but the shot is marked to this day by a granite rock.
The Open champion's name lives on with the Seve Trophy match, Continental Europe against a Britain and Ireland side.
The seventh staging of it takes place in Paris in two weeks, but Paul McGinley's team will not have Rory McIlroy in it and the FedEx Cup play-offs in the United States are also likely to keep Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Martin Laird and Justin Rose away as well.
McIlroy, in the Swiss Alps for his first event since his tree root injury at the USPGA Championship, says he has commitments with his sponsors and also wants a break before embarking on 12 weeks of travel.
"I want to try to get two weeks at home and do a few things before I head off on that big run," he told European Tour radio.
Lee Westwood has yet to make up his mind whether to play - his last appearance was 2003 - but with Mark Foster in line for a debut he commented: "It would be nice if Worksop had two people there."
This week is the last qualifying event for the Seve Trophy and also the first counting tournament in the year-long race for places in Jose Maria Olazabal's Ryder Cup side.
Olazabal might be disappointed by the turn-out in Paris, but he will be pleased that McIlroy, Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Darren Clarke are entering the cup race right at the start.