Yeah never very straight off the tee. But neither was sevi to be to be fair was it was it his strength that day i putted him off the course is all i can say yeah. But everything else he dominated yeah off the team was amazing 40 yards. So in 1975 did you play about if i've jumped ahead here. Or not but you played with sevi no 1976 1976.. So in may 1976 the leicestershire golf club hosted a european tour pro-am because you know tournaments would finish on saturdays in those days okay. So it finished the tournament finish whatever it was being played was it uh i think it's finn. And park in coventry still four days though yeah four days we'll start on wednesday finish on saturday okay again sunday was supposed to go down yeah. So um then.
At that stage the european tour tried to put on pro-ams close by to where the tournament was being held yeah on a sunday. And um leicestershire golf club was hosting this. And they very kindly gave um one spot to a good player an invitation can you remember what you're playing off at this point handicap wise of scratch did plus handicap was it around i can't remember. But i i'm pretty sure there were less than 100 plus handicappers in those days right i mean it was amazing to get to a plus andy of course you do hear that a lot that light without being disrespectful scratch back in those days was different to scratch now goodness absolutely a hundred percent no doubt in my mind. So what would you have said scratch back in the day was like a plus three handicap yeah two plus two plus three i would think. And uh you know anybody who got into pluses they're the peter mcavoys you know the nick felder plus two maybe plus three i think yeah possibly they were the guys who were shooting 65s all the time yeah yeah. So you team up you're playing in this pro-am yeah do you know who you're playing with at this point i've got drawn with sevi via styros can you believe it oh my goodness i know it's. So i mean if you've ever got a life that is done by you know scripts it's meant to happen isn't the script writer yeah. So i got this guy came on the team you know hello was possible he barely spoke spoke a word of english at this point again this is before mining guy's time how famous is he at that point in time. So i think he's had a i had a look obviously i looked him up when i knew i was drawn how he can't google him you had the european tour um in the magazines you could kept back in the magazines. And that i think i had a john player yearbook. Or something you could look up the results of the tournaments yeah yeah see i think he finished in the top 10 in a european tour event the year before. So he had a little bit of did you know him as the the next.
Up. And coming superstar i don't think anybody did no at that stage was it was it like did you around that time did you have people who were coming up like nick faldo who was pipped as the next.
Superstar. Or as as kind of the new world created that buzz around great players coming through you know media in those days you know you might got the daily telegraph covered amateur golf like amazingly yeah. So that was you know you might have had a little spot about you know michael williams might have written something about the next.
Up. And coming yeah player faldo was obviously amazing he burst onto the scene. And was instantly amazing yeah um nick sandy lyle has been amazing from a 14 year old of course. So mark james had been winning everything in the midlands yeah as an amateur. And do you think someone like sevi coming from spain there wasn't that buzz around that like if he was maybe in living in england it would have been a huge buzz i think. For us then.
But back in the day because he was over in spain he didn't really know a lot about it. And golf in spain was very much the rich people's game yeah you know it wasn't i mean he had a hard enough time getting to play in the first place anyway yeah of course. And um i think i just knew if you just sway someone hits a golf ball. And i i was long-ish i was not very straight yeah never very straight off the tee. But neither was savvy to be to be fair was it was it his strength that day i putted him off the course is all i can say yeah. But everything else he dominated yeah off the team was amazing 40 yards past me really yeah. And the sound of the strike was you know you you know you're obviously good players you know when you just close your eyes besides someone faldo when you close your eyes beside him amazing yes same with balosteros. And sandy were all incredible well i had one story with that i was up at uh royal um i was up at trump international a couple of years ago yeah. And it was the same week as the scottish open i was on the driving range hitting balls. And someone behind me was hitting i'm like god that sounds good like that sounds like they do that sounds really good i turn around it's phil mickelson. And you just the sound was just different you have like elite player then.
You have tall player which is obviously pure then.
You have that like that handful don't you again you're rory's your phil mickelsons yours in the day yeah. And it's just different again you can't put your finger on what it is it's just hit just sounded. So good so you're out there playing with him yeah he he scores better than you i guess well we're about the same i think we didn't do very well as a team i know i remember that i think i should learn about level. Or something but only because i putted him off the course you know but pro-ams they're not really that interested it's a sunday yeah he's you know he's just playing the tournament yeah he's kind of doing it. For a sponsored piece or whatever it is. And um i mean. So what did you take away from that round though just strike to purely. And charisma yeah you know there was charisma already that was charisma really yeah good with you very nice to me yeah. And even though we couldn't speak loads of english but it was just fun you know. And it was like the round went far too quickly as far as i was concerned of course. But then.
Obviously it's that sticks in your mind doesn't it and then.
Two months later royal birthday off yeah. And you know he's leading the open with two with one round to play by two shots and it's like what i was playing with him yeah i played with him two months two months ago yeah. And i remember putting him off the golf course i remember i was playing in a in a competition at home club that that weekend. And um uh it was a 36 holler on the saturday. And um i went i remember coming at lunchtime what's happening he hadn't even teed off you know so i get in at the end of the day and he's and you've already played 36. now i'm playing 36 and he's still on the course all right okay sorry he's not finished. Yet yeah yeah. And um i hear he's about five shots off and i'm thinking oh god you know but it was kind of predictable i suppose because he had been all over the golf course yeah. For three days and still scrambled and saved himself but then.
He finishes eagle birdie to finish second oh my goodness who won that year uh johnny miller okay yeah yeah. And johnny miller shot 65 i think in the final round wow. So brilliant and he was playing with sevi yeah yeah you know two very different games i guess oh yeah yeah it was a month later he won his first event on the european tour by eight yeah dutch yeah yeah. And that was one of the fun things about this book was that i actually found some pictures from the dutch open which i've never seen before you know a friend in holland put me on to an archive. And amazing yeah we dug up some pictures of him playing. So did you feel at the time you know he's a bit of an unknown you've played golf with him in a pro-am. And obviously he's then.
Leading the open two two months later he goes and wins a dutch opener whatever by eight shots did you almost feel like an attachment to him because it was almost like absolutely like you're rooting. For him i've root for him from that very very day that i've played with here at leicester golf club he's like i've experienced it a couple of times where i've spent time with players who uh in their infancy and they're learning the trade and they go on to do great things. And play on european talk i'm always following him on social media and stuff now i'm like i hope he's doing well and obviously you had that similar without the social media back in the 70s where you're like sev is my boy yeah i played with it yeah totally always will be as well well you've you've mentioned that he is your idol of idols yeah sporting hero yeah um. But he's um yeah it was he's electric in every sense.
