T.J.'s Take: Golf without Seve wouldn't be much fun

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Seve Ballesteros is still fighting for his life after having a cancerous brain tumor removed.

Seve Ballesteros might just be the greatest escape artist the game of golf has ever seen.

A short-game magician, Seve would execute miraculous, seemingly impossible shots just when he needed to.

Right now, he needs another miracle -- the kind that no set of clubs can render.

It was just over two weeks ago that the Spanish legend confirmed to the world that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. A 12-hour surgery to cut out the tumor was performed two days after the announcement, and it was then found to be cancerous.

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Making matters worse for the five-time major champion, he suffered complications from the initial surgery and then had parts of his skull removed to relieve pressure on the brain from bleeding and swelling. Then more surgery was performed last week to remove the remainder of the tumor.

Reports out of Spain say that Ballesteros is "evolving favorably" after that third surgery, but he remains in intensive care.

Because of this situation, I've had Seve in my thoughts a lot lately. To read about what he's going through is difficult. He's just 51 years old, for God's sake. It's scary.

Along with my thinking about Seve and hoping for the best possible outcome, I also wondered what golf would be like today if Seve had never come along.

I'll tell you one thing I realized right off the bat -- it sure wouldn't be as much fun.

I was very young when Seve was in his heyday, so all I can rely on are stories I've heard and highlights I've seen.

Was there ever a more charismatic player? Talk about wearing your emotions on your sleeve -- this guy had to be a bull in an earlier life.

Unplayable lies? It's as if Seve didn't even know what those two words meant. He was brazen, exciting, brave and moronic.

Usually all at once.

The one player today who seems to possess many of Seve's qualities is Sergio Garcia. That, of course, isn't by accident -- Garcia counts Seve as his idol growing up.

Few golfers today look like they're having more fun on the course than Sergio does, just as it seemed to be with Seve.

Can you even begin to imagine what the Ryder Cup would be like without the indelible mark Seve left on it? I'm guessing dull at best.

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Seve's battles with Paul Azinger in the Ryder Cup are legendary. First there was the incident at The Belfry in 1989 where Azinger defeated Seve in singles play (the Europeans retained the Ryder Cup that year), but afterward, Seve accused Zinger of taking a questionable drop on the 18th hole.

There's no bigger insult you can impose upon a golfer than accusing him or her of cheating.

Naturally, Zinger didn't like that.

Two years later at Kiawah Island, Zinger and Chip Beck matched up against Seve and Jose Maria Olazabal in the opening foursomes match. The Spaniards would win the match 2 and 1 but not without incident.

Seve accused the Americans of breaking the rules when they switched golf balls during the match, which -- in Ryder Cup play -- is legal.

Seve went so far as to call the 1991 U.S. Ryder Cup team (which won, 14 ½-13 ½), "Eleven nice guys and Paul Azinger." To which Zinger countered, "The king of gamesmanship doesn't like me? Good. A feather in my cap."

How can you not love that stuff in golf? It gives the game some much-needed color and personality.

The exchanges between Seve and Azinger certainly injected the Ryder Cup with a huge shot of adrenaline that it so desperately needed in the late '80s and early '90s. Was it the only reason for the enormous success of the event? Of course not. But it sure made a lot more people watch, thinking they might be just as likely to see a golf ball and a fist fly.

If Seve never gets a chance to tee it up again, it will be a shame. Sure, it's fair to say that in recent years the brilliant game he once owned has left him, but he's still a superstar.

Seve made it fun for spectators to see a professional hit it into the trees, but not in the, "Oh, I can relate to that," kind of way. It was more like, "This is going to be something! Is he going to hit it around the trees? Over the trees? Maybe through the trees?!"

Here's to hoping and praying that Ballesteros can recover from this, the worst of bad lies.

T.J. Auclair is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.