Tony Jacklin: Seve Ballesteros was a one-man army – he made 1983 Ryder Cup loss memorable

Tony Jacklin was a non-playing Ryder Cup captain on four occasions, winning two, drawing one to retain the trophy but losing his first in that role in 1983 in Palm Beach, Florida, where USA won narrowly 14½ to 13½. But for the European skipper, it was a match for memorable reasons… and for selecting one player in particular…

You could have knocked me down with a feather when British PGA secretary Colin Snape and European Tour chief Ken Schofield approached me out of the blue and asked me to become Ryder Cup captain in 1983.

They were done for me.

I was very hurt by being left out of the 1979 team in favor Mark James. In 1979, Mark had behaved so badly that it was impossible for me to get involved.

My immediate response was, “Whoa, this is a shock — I’m not going to be able to give you an answer right now. I’ll need to get back to you”.

At that point, I really didn’t care whether I took the job or not and, you might think this strange, but I couldn’t have cared less about the Ryder Cup.

But as I began to absorb the reality of the captaincy offer, I thought this would be a great opportunity to put things right and make a real difference to the team’s chances.

Our mindset was shaped by the fact that we traveled the same way as Americans, who flew Concorde, had first-class of everything, and that we would need a team space, which we didn’t have before.

This team room became crucial for us. That was our inner sanctum — no officials, no fans, no media, it was just us together every night.

Snape, Schofield and I exchanged our shopping list and they all agreed to them.

Which one do you think will win this year’s Ryder Cup? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

PGA president Lord Derby was hovering around waiting for me to give my decision and, at that point, my main concern was Seve Ballesteros.

I went up to Lord Derby and asked him, “What about Seve?”

He replied, “You’ve accepted the job; he’s your problem now.”

Seve was still seething about being omitted from the 1981 matches because of his dispute with the Tour over the payment of appearance fees at regular tournaments.

I thought it was bizarre that he should be referred to as a “problem” and I made it my business to speak to Seve as quickly as possible.

Seve spent the first half-hour venting about the Tour and I had every sympathy. “I know, you don’t have to tell ME,” I explained to him. “As far as I’m concerned, they’re a shower and not worth worrying about. But none of this matters now because they’ve given me carte blanche to do the job as I see fit — I want to make changes, and I can’t do it without you.”

He was hurt, his ego severely dented and he didn’t think the Tour appreciated where he was coming from at all. Seve and I talked for an hour or more and eventually he said, “OK, Tony, I help you.”

That was music to my ears and Seve went on to win three points out of five that year.

Seve, the great man that he is, was like an army. He was a total commitment to me. He did whatever it took – barring cheating because we obviously weren’t going there – but we needed to have this passionate resolve to get it done and he and I never left a stone unturned.

• Tony Jacklin’s My Ryder Cup Journey is now available online at Amazon, Waterstones and WH Smith, as well as other outlets. Prix £9.99