SPANISH golfer Severiano Ballesteros became one of his sport’s greats after years of tireless practice in the village of Pedrena in northern Spain using a home-made club, fashioned out of the head of a broken 3-iron strapped to a stick.

Armed with raw talent, 19-year-old Seve burst onto the international scene in 1976 when he finished in joint second place with Jack Nicklaus at The Open Championship.

With his good looks, easy-going charm and relentless attacking play, the “matador of the links”

gained an ardent following and he won his first Open Championship three years later to rousing cheers from the crowds at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club.

Documentary filmmaker John-Paul Davidson pays tribute to this remarkable sporting statesman, who died of brain cancer in 2011, with a film that intercuts archive footage with dramatisations of Ballesteros’ formative years in sun-drenched Pedrena.

Seve is a beautifully crafted valentine to a man who rose from humble origins as the son of a farmer to become a master of his craft.