Seve talks about his miracle Mulligan

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  • June 27, 2009

Seve Ballesteros has made an official public appearance since falling ill at the launch of a cancer federation bearing his name.

Seve Ballesteros has made his first public appearance since undergoing lifesaving surgery to remove a brain tumour last December at the launch of a new cancer federation bearing his name.
The 52-year-old, speaking at the launch, said he felt as if he had been handed a second chance at life.
“The first thing that I told the doctors after I woke up from the anaesthetic was that my new name was Seve Mulligan,” he said in reference to the fact that ‘Mulligan’ is the term used for the golf rule that permits a player to retake a shot.
“Nine months ago my life was hanging by a thread. I feel now like I have a mulligan in life.”
The five-time major winner was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour after losing consciousness at Madrid Airport last October.
He spent the next 66 days in La Paz hospital in Madrid where he underwent four operations before being allowed to return to his home in Bilbao on December 9.
Ballesteros has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment since and got the chance to praise the doctors who performed the operations to remove the tumour, describing their work as “a miracle”.
The charismatic Spaniard also likened his fight against the ailment to the birdie putt he sank on the 18th at St Andrews to help win the Open in 1984 – which he believes required a similar amount of willpower.
He told BBC Sport: “My recovery is like The Open in 1984 when the ball hovered on the lip of the hole. With all my energy I willed the ball to drop in and it did.
“With that ability and the doctors’ hands, I am here now.”

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