The 1984 Open win at St. Andrews was Seve Ballesteros’s greatest triumph. By 1984 Seve had 3 majors under his belt and had won The Open previously in 1978. However, the field during 1984 was one of the best assembled of that era. The scores were tight at the top after 54 holes with four players within 2 shots. There was also a host of big names poised to strike if any of the front runners slipped up.
During the final round Ian Baker-Finch fell away, Fred Couples and Greg Norman posted good scores but couldn’t trouble the pace setters of Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros. Bernhard Langer was hanging in there as well.
It eventually came down to the last two holes. Tom Watson, the co-leader at the start of the day and playing in the group behind Seve Ballesteros, was struggling. Seve hit a terrific approach on the 17th, the road hole, to claim his par. Tom Watson started the 17th on the same score as Seve but struggled with his approach leaving it a few feet from the stone wall beyond the green. The door was opened for Seve. Back on 18, Seve made a tricky pitch over the valley of sin to leave himself a 7-foot birdie putt. Watson could only make bogey on 17 leaving Ballesteros with a 1 shot advantage. The 7-foot putt was tricky. After Seve hit his ball it broke right-to-left and fell dead-weight into the hole for a birdie, sealing the win. The fist pump celebration is one of the most iconic golfing moments in the history of The Open.
We have immortalised this moment with our Seve Ballesteros - 1984 dead weight putt design.