Seve crowned Team Europe's greatest player

Seve Ballesteros was crowned Team Europe’s greatest player after a 14 day poll on our @RyderCupEurope Twitter channel, where over 75,000 votes were cast by fans to determine the best of the best.

The final saw the Spaniard come up against Ian Poulter, affectionately known as “The Postman” as he always delivers at The Ryder Cup, and took home 67% of the vote.

Ballesteros’ opening match came against Darren Clarke, but the Northern Irishman’s heroics at The 2006 Ryder Cup weren’t enough as the three-time Ryder Cup winner romped home with a 95% share of the vote.

This set up a potentially tricky quarter-final against a Ryder Cup great in Colin Montgomerie.

However, the Spaniard, who made eight appearances for Team Europe, secured a 79% share of the vote to comfortably move into the semi-finals.

Colin Montgomerie himself even tweeted to show his admiration for the late Ballesteros, saying he made it the event it is today.

Seve’s semi-final was an all-Spanish affair as he faced Europe’s all-time leading points scorer Sergio Garcia.

But once again Seve secured a comfortable victory as he claimed 77% of the vote.

All that stood in his way now was Ian Poulter – a player adored by fans for his heroics at The Ryder Cup.

However, even he admitted Seve should be crowned Team Europe’s greatest ever player.

And, at the conclusion of the final day’s vote, Seve was named just that as he picked up a 67% share of the vote in the final.

Congratulations, Seve.

How were the last 16 players selected?

We asked a selection of the golfing world’s media to pick 16 players who have represented
Europe on at least three occasions.

This means any Ryder Cup from 1979 onwards, which gave us a list of 30 players to choose from.

Equally, votes were cast on their performances as players rather than as captains or vice captains.

From there, we narrowed down our field and seeded the players based on the amount of points they have won for Team Europe.