'Simple Service' For Golf Great Ballesteros

The family of former world number one golfer Severiano Ballesteros has revealed his funeral service will be "as simple as those for any neighbour" in their Spanish village.

"The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbour from the village," his brother Baldomero said.

"He was born here and here he will remain."

The 54-year-old star died at his home in Pedrena in northern Spain at 2.10am on Saturday morning, surrounded by his family.

His family said they were "very grateful for all the support and gestures of love" that he "will be cremated at a ceremony that will be as intimate as possible".

Ballesteros' funeral will be held at 1pm on May 11 in Pedrena, and three days of official mourning will be held in Cantabria regional government head Miguel Angel Revilla said.

Ballesteros - who won five majors, including The Masters twice, during his 30-year professional career - underwent surgery for a brain tumour in 2008 and chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.

Speaking after treatment, he said the tumour was "the size of two golf balls".

His family said he died of "respiratory failure".

An emotional Colin Montgomerie spoke from the heart at the Spanish Open about the death of Ballesteros.

"Very few people are called legends in this world and Seve was one of them," he said.

The swashbuckling Spaniard often made the impossible look ordinary and inspired millions of young people to play the game with the energy he injected into it.

"He was taking a shot once and a little boy could be heard rattling coins in his pocket behind him," Wentworth Golf Club chief executive Julian Small told Sky News.

"Seve turned round and asked the boy, 'Are you nervous?' The boy said he was and Seve smiled at him and said, 'So am I.'

"That was the kind of guy he was."

Sir Nick Faldo has described him as "the Cirque du Soleil, the greatest show on Earth."

Severiano 'Seve' Ballesteros was born in Pedrena on April 9, 1957.

He turned professional at age 16 in 1974 and finished second at the British Open at age 19 in 1976.

He went on to win the British Open three times in his career (1979, 1984, and 1988) and twice don the green jacket at Augusta (1980 and 1983).

The former world No. 1 holds the record for the highest number of European Tour victories - 50. He won 87 titles altogether.

"Seve was one of the most talented and exciting golfers to ever play the game," Tiger Woods tweeted.

"His creativity and inventiveness on the golf course may never be surpassed. His death came much too soon."

One of the best ever match play competitors, Ballesteros helped Europe capture the Ryder Cup four times as a player and captained the team to victory in 1997.

Lee Westwood told Sky News: "For someone my age he was a hero. I grew up watching him play this swashbuckling golf.

"He was one of the first Europeans to take golf over to the Americans and show them what we could do."

Ballesteros was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1999 but played sparingly in the latter years of his career until his retirement in July 2007 due to chronic back problems.

The members flag at the Wentworth club flew at half-mast on Saturday as the clubhouse mourned one of its most colourful members.