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By Brett Avery
PGATOUR.COM Contributor

There are not many similarities between Richmond County, Ga., and Westchester County, N.Y. Their locations on opposite sides of the Mason-Dixon Line mean differences in everything from the change of seasons to the pace of life.

Seve Ballesteros won twice at The Barclays. (WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Seve Ballesteros at what is now The Barclays

Starts 9 Wins 2 Seconds 1 Top-10s 4 Top-25s 5 Money Earned $321,574

But the home of The Masters and home of The Barclays, two premier events on the PGA TOUR calendar, share a handful of firsts of a golfing sort.

The Masters is the first major championship of the year, kicking off a four-month run of four events that produce so much of the game's history. And The Barclays is the first playoff event in a run of four FedExCup events that look to redefine the game's history.

They share another distinct thread that seems fitting to mention considering events of the past few weeks: They are the two locales where Seve Ballesteros achieved his greatest success when competing in the United States.

Ballesteros announced at this year's Open Championship that he was ending his playing career, having taken a peek at the 50-and-over world and deciding it wasn't for him. Fitting that he made the statement at the British, which he won three times at the height of his swashbuckling career (1979 and '88 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, 1984 at St. Andrews).

He also tacked on Masters titles in 1980 and '83, widening a foreign-winner trail blazed by Gary Player and since followed by more than a half-dozen international stars.

But it was over the West Course at Westchester CC in suburban Harrison where Ballesteros set his own rhythm, winning in 1983 and 1988 and dropping a one-hole playoff to J.C. Snead in 1987. That's the same year, coincidentally, that Ballesteros was denied a third Masters by bowing out of a three-way playoff with Larry Mize and Greg Norman by three-putting the first hole.

A healthy share of the 150 career PGA TOUR starts Ballesteros made came in majors and those were the venues where his imaginative short game left the world's golfers agape. Few men matched his talents with a wedge. Fewer still equaled his passion.

It was hardly surprising that Ballesteros came to dominate in Harrison, back when the tournament was known as the Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic. It typically preceded the U.S. Open with thick rough and fast greens that were worthy preparation.

Ballesteros played at Westchester nine times, also tying for 17th in 1984 and fifth in 1991. He teed it up there "because it is a good tournament, good golf course, good preparation for the Open next week," he said in 1983. "The greens are fast and hard and very good for practice for the Open."

He missed the cut in his 1981 debut at Westchester and returned two years later amid a protracted disagreement with then-Commissioner Deane Beman over TOUR membership (they eventually compromised with Ballesteros becoming a full TOUR member).

The $81,000 first prize was fourth largest on TOUR in those days and Ballesteros admitted part of the allure was the cash. But he placed his emphasis on scoring and broke away from Fuzzy Zoeller, his co-leader through 36 holes, with a 10-foot birdie putt at the third hole Saturday.

Ballesteros led by a shot that night and secured his 42nd career victory the next afternoon with a 69, the week's third-lowest round. He tussled throughout the day with Andy Bean and Craig Stadler, vaulting to the title by hitting his second shot at the par-5 18th to within 15 feet. Ballesteros made the putt and soured the mood of Bean, who minutes earlier on the same putting surface had misread a four-footer for birdie.

Four years later Ballesteros seemed ready to atone for his miscue in the 1987 Masters playoff by reclaiming Westchester. He was wild off the tee -- No. 7 was his first green in regulation during the final round -- but saved par at least four times and birdied the 18th to force the playoff.

Ballesteros drove first the extra time down the reachable 10th and wound up beneath a tree left of the green; Snead took 4-iron and bumped it down the fairway. Ballesteros' second hit a tree, his third flew the green and his fourth went beyond the fringe. He picked up after his fifth shot.

It took a long time for Ballesteros to discuss the miscue (he left the property immediately, skipping the prize ceremony he was so furious with himself). He attributed it to the Masters loss, after which he began "making mistakes at the wrong time."

But Ballesteros came back strong the next year, avenging '87 with a playoff triumph against David Frost, Ken Green and Greg Norman. Again playing the downhill 10th, Ballesteros drove into a greenside bunker and faced a 50-foot shot from a downhill lie. He flicked the ball to five feet and calmly rolled the putt home while the others each took three or four shots to find the green.

It was Ballesteros' last victory in the U.S. and capped a career dotted with nearly 90 victories. Although he scaled back his tournament appearances, Ballesteros' presence was felt around the world with the play of the next generation of Spanish golfers, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia among them. You do recognize the names of Olazabal, victorious at Augusta National in 1994 and '99, and Garcia, the man who won at Westchester in 2001 and 2004, right?