ESPN Golf

Seve Ballesteros is clearly one of the best golfers of his generation, no matter what part of the world a player hails from. His five major titles put the Spaniard in some rare company, the likes of which include the greatest the game has ever seen.

But in looking at his list of career accomplishments, including his stellar Ryder Cup record and playing a key role in including continental Europe in the biennial matches, our experts discuss where Ballesteros ranks in the realm of European golfing legends in this week's edition of Fact or Fiction.

FACT OR FICTION? Seve Ballesteros is one of the most influential European golfers of the past 30 years.

Not only has Ballesteros been one of the most influential European golfers, he might top the list. Certainly England's Nick Faldo and Tony Jacklin are part of the discussion. But if you are talking about inspiring a nation and a continent, then Seve is the man. Take the argument outside of Great Britain, and there is no question it is Seve.

The Spaniard turned pro as a teenager and was contending at the British Open as a 19-year-old, winning the PGA European Tour's Order of Merit the same year in 1976. It is an honor he would attain six times.

When he won the Masters in 1980 -- his second major title, following a British Open win a year prior -- he was the youngest player to do so and remained that way until a guy named Tiger came along. Among the Big Five of Europe -- Ballesteros, Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam -- only Faldo's six majors bested Ballesteros' five.

But in terms of European golf, he gave it credibility. He showed that the game could be played beyond the British Isles. And he did it with flair, hitting unbelievable recovery shots and playing with the kind of moxie reserved for Arnold Palmer. Although he feuded with then-PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman about playing more on the PGA Tour, he supported his home circuit and his influence helped it grow into becoming a tour that today plays all around the world.

Perhaps more importantly, however, Ballesteros helped the Ryder Cup become meaningful. When he first turned pro, the competition was a lopsided affair and the Americans played a Great Britain & Ireland squad that expanded to all of Europe in no small part because of Ballesteros' presence. After skipping the 1981 competition, Ballesteros played in the next seven Ryder Cups in which Europe won three times, tied once and posted its first victory on American soil. He also captained the team to victory at home in Spain in 1997.

Let's see ... five major championship titles, 50 career European Tour victories, four successful stints as a Ryder Cup team member and one as Europe's captain -- yeah, you could say that's pretty influential. But Seve's legacy will always be about more than just Ws. He will forever be remembered for three important things:

Quick with a quote, Seve has never been at a loss for words. Whether it's giving Paul Azinger a tongue-lashing through the media after a particularly tense Ryder Cup clash or cornering a reporter who asked a line of questions he didn't prefer, the Spaniard may have been terse at times, but always truthful. The clubhouse leader of his myriad comments? When asked how he once four-putted, Ballesteros broke it down: "I miss. I miss. I miss. I make."

Though he had his fans internationally, Ballesteros was part of a long line of European players whom American fans loved to hate. And he loved that they loved to hate him. In what's become a regularity for U.S. golf supporters --- think Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Sergio Garcia --- Ballesteros was one of the first to regularly win Ryder Cup matches and drew the ire of those draped in the flag. He always thrived in that environment, too.

And yes, let's not forget Seve's on-course brilliance. The man who once won the British Open in part by making birdie from a car park, he is regarded as the greatest scrambler of his generation, if not ever. Fairways and greens were for the other guys; Seve always looked more in his element when he was hitting an approach from an adjacent cart path, behind a large tree or from beneath the daunting lip of a troubling bunker.

There is no tangible way of measuring an intangible statistic like influence, but that of Severiano Ballesteros cannot be debated.

Without a doubt Seve Ballesteros was one of the most influential figures in European golf history.

Beyond the facts surrounding his Masters and British Open wins, Seve became the Tiger Woods of his generation. When European golf was floundering, Ballesteros helped boost its popularity, winning the British Open at age 22 in 1979; the adjectives used to describe the Spaniard included "flamboyant," "aggressive," "headstrong" and "cavalier" for the nonchalant way he approached the course at Royal Lytham.

Everyone agreed, however, that he was the future of the game.

The following spring when he became the youngest player to win the Masters -- a mark Woods would break in 1997 -- Golf World called him "Spain's answer to Arnold Palmer" and openly wondered if he would surpass Jack Nicklaus' major records. But he never embraced America and the PGA Tour, preferring to concentrate on Europe and the majors.

And when he played in his realm, the galleries were filled and the younger players -- such as José Maria Olazábal, Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie -- watched and were inspired by the Spaniard. That they would be the ones to turn the fortunes of the European Ryder Cup team is not coincidental. For nearly 20 years, from his win in the 1979 British Open to his captaincy of the 1997 Ryder Cup team, Ballesteros was a major influence in European golf. Here's hoping he can continue to be one.

Actually, that is an understatement. Ballesteros is THE most influential European golfer of the last 30 years and is quite possibly the most influential European ever, certainly the most important from the continent.

The rise of Seve as a world-class player had a lot to do with the inclusion of the European continent in the Ryder Cup and that move led to the resurrection of the event. Ballesteros also saved the European Tour by refusing to submit to the PGA Tour's requirement to play 15 events to be a tour member. In doing so, a generation of top European players stayed home, in part out of loyalty to Ballesteros.

He is, quite simply, the Arnold Palmer of European golf. Seve is one of the most dynamic competitors of the television era -- good looking, athletic, skilled and aggressive.

At his peak, his style of play was among the most exciting and imaginative ever. Five major championships alone earns Ballesteros a place in history, but his most enduring contribution to the game is how dramatically he expanded the game around the world.