Seve Ballesteros’ fire in the Ryder Cup was never just theater. Legendary caddie Billy Foster reveals that it was born from the treatment he received from his American team rivals. Speaking on On the Road With Iona, Foster talked about how Ballesteros felt mocked, ignored, and deliberately diminished when he first arrived in the United States. The ferocious and aggressive moments that fans later saw were carried on from the initial encounters.

“You take it back to the 80s and 90s with Seve Ballesteros. Let me tell you, it was pure and utter hatred. Hatred with a passion. He despised them,” Billy Foster revealed in On the Road With Iona.

“Because he felt as though they disrespected him when he first went over there. They didn’t give him the time of day. They called him Steve instead of Seve. They just wound him up, and they showed him no class whatsoever. And he took it with him. He took it personally, and he wanted to beat them at every opportunity, honestly, with pure nut. ‘I just want to rip your heart out, pluck it out, put it on a platter, and when I beat you, I’ll give you back on the 18th green.’ He hated them.”

Foster pointed out that the earlier contests before the European team was introduced to the biennial event in 1979 were no contest. Some of the American golfers didn’t even participate in them. But it all changed when Seve Ballesteros came along.

From here on, it was the European Tour against the PGA Tour.

But if that was not reason enough to hate each other, the treatment that Seve Ballesteros received certainly was.

The Spaniard debuted at the 1979 Ryder Cup, when the European team was newly formed. He and fellow Spanish golfer, Antonio Garrido, were the only two from outside Britain and Ireland to make it to the team. Although the team didn’t win, Ballesteros was able to make his mark with a 40-foot putt and many such amazing shots. But the Americans called him lucky instead of acknowledging his skills.

Then Seve Ballesteros didn’t play in the 1981 Ryder Cup, but was part of the team again in 1983, and the hatred grew stronger.

When the 6x European Order of Merit winner heard that Americans called him lucky, he said, “Saddle me up and get on my back.”

In 1983, they started calling him Steve instead of Seve, as Billy Foster shared, as well. Even an American journalist repeatedly called him Steve despite being corrected.

This led to a deep hatred within Seve Ballesteros, who wanted to defeat the American team at all costs in every Ryder Cup event he ever played. And the rest is history.

The Spaniard was regarded as one of the most aggressive golfers in the history of the biennial event.

In an interview with talkSPORT Golf a couple of months back, Foster had revealed that Ballesteros was a lightning rod who despised everybody in red, white, and blue once the matches started.

“Seve just despised everybody when it came to a Ryder Cup,” Foster mentioned.

One of the most heated moments came in 1987, when he was facing Curtis Strange and Tom Kite. Strange himself recalled the dispute over putting etiquette on the first hole.

Ballesteros’ partner, María Olazábal, attempted to putt while standing on Strange’s intended line. After Strange objected, Ballesteros aggressively confronted him, repeatedly asking if it bothered him. When Strange confirmed it did, Ballesteros responded with a dramatic show of defiance. He immediately chipped in from just off the green and then walked away while pumping his fist at Strange.

Compared to those aggressions, the heckles and temporary heated moments at Ryder Cup events today are nothing, according to Billy Foster.

It was this hatred of Seve Ballesteros against the American team that helped him make the Ryder Cup what it is today for the Europeans.

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Seve Ballesteros’ role in making the Ryder Cup what it is

Foster has said publicly that “one person more than any other, Seve Ballesteros, has made the Ryder Cup what it is today.” He credited his charisma, emotion, and combative streak with transforming the event from an afterthought to a global spectacle.​

The turning point was Europe’s emergence in the 1980s, highlighted by Ballesteros. He helped the team win in 1985 and then spearheaded the historic first victory on U.S. soil at Muirfield Village in 1987. ​As the 1997 European captain at Valderrama, he also managed everything, from pairings to practice rounds, to such an extent that players and U.S. opponents alike saw that week as Seve’s Ryder Cup.

Even today, many golfers acknowledge him as the inspiration behind the European team’s Ryder Cup passion.

Rory McIlroy, for instance, didn’t think much of the Ryder Cup at one point. However, the European team’s conference call with Seve Ballesteros changed it all for him. When McIlroy looked around at his team during the call, most of the players were crying, and that was when he understood the true embodiment of the European Ryder Cup team.

Ken Brown also said that Seve Ballesteros was a “Ryder Cup pioneer.” 2025 Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald and European team members Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry also mentioned the same. In fact, Donald pointed out that there are 13 lockers in the team’s dressing room, one for each golfer and the 13th one for Seve Ballesteros.

That’s how much Seve Ballesteros means to the European Ryder Cup team.