SANDWICH, England, July 13 (Reuters) - Players are being invited to write messages in a Seve Ballesteros book of remembrance at this week’s British Open, the Royal & Ancient (R&A) organisers said on Wednesday.
“This is the first Open championship since Seve’s death and we have taken the opportunity to mark his passing in a number of ways,” chief executive Peter Dawson told reporters on the eve of the third major of the year.
“The thrust of the messages from the players is what a wonderful inspiration Seve has been to golfers the world over and particularly in Europe.
“Many of them actually said Seve was their own inspiration for playing golf. He was the guy they all watched when they were kids and they said he was going to be greatly missed.”
Ballesteros, who won the Open in 1979, 1984 and 1988 and the U.S. Masters in 1980 and 1983, died in May at the age of 54 after a two-year battle with brain cancer.
“We also have quite an amount of signage around the course, tented village and at the entrance points featuring Seve and have some silhouettes of him around the 18th green,” said Dawson.
“His image will appear on the draw sheets every day and we are donating all the proceeds to the Seve Foundation.
“That will supplement the large amount raised by the Seve Foundation at last year’s Open which I understand was the biggest single source of income for the foundation last year,” added Dawson.
“All this will remind everyone as to what a great man he was and his connection with the Open.”
More than 1.3 million pounds ($2,083 million) has been raised in total since the late Spaniard launched his foundation in December 2009.
“The foundation is Seve’s biggest legacy,” his nephew Ivan said at the PGA Championship at Wentworth in May.
“He fought all the way and lost the battle…but he started the foundation for cancer research so that people can win these battles.” ($1 = 0.624 British Pounds)
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