Severiano Ballesteros makes
his Madeira Island Open debut on Thursday in a bid to gain confidence ahead of
reforming his renowned partnership with Jose Maria Olazabal.
Ballesteros has not won
since the 1995 Spanish Open. His game has been in a slump since he played for
Europe in the Ryder Cup that year, a year Olazabal missed through injury.
The 42-year-old Spaniard
is desperate to find some form before leading his European team at Sunningdale
next month against Colin Montgomerie's Britain and Ireland in the inaugural Ballesteros
Trophy.
Team captain Ballesteros
plans to play with Olazabal again -- the duo collected a record 12 points out
of 15 in four Ryder Cup matches. They halved two and lost only twice.
"It would be great to team
up with Jose Maria again," said Ballesteros. "I will hope we can play one of
the formats together.
Seve at the Dubai
Desert Classic. Allsport.
"But I need to get my confidence
going before that. I have no confidence at the moment.
"Maybe it will come back
this week, but the course is a tough test, very hilly and up and down. And it
is the first time I've played here.
"I'm a little bit tired
of talking about technique and this and that," Ballesteros admitted.
"Everyone who approaches
me always think they have the key to the situation, mainly because they are nice
people and they are just trying to help. I really don't know what I have to do.
"I'm not playing very
well, I don't have confidence in my game.
"Confidence is a big
factor but there is always hope."
"I'm looking forward to
the match at Sunningdale, though. I think people want to see good match play
and there will be a lot of rivalry between Monty's side and mine."
Ballesteros will be calling
on the likes of Olazabal and Sergio Garcia against Montgomerie's side, but in
Madeira there are only young hopefuls and faded heroes, like him and another
former European number one Ronan Rafferty.
