Player Profile: Ramon Sota

Ramon Sota, the uncle of golfing legend Seve Ballesteros and a successful tournament player in the 1960s and 70s, died of pneumonia at the age of 74. Sota, whose best result was a sixth-place finish at the Masters in 1965, was a key figure in the growth of the game in Spain and an inspiration to his nephew, who went on to win five majors. Ballesteros passed away in May last year after battling a brain tumour.

Sota was born on April 23 1938 in Pedrena, a village in the region of Cantabria, northern Spain. He turned professional in 1956 after working as a caddie at Real Golf de Pedrena, winning the Spanish Professional Championship four times and becoming one of the first Spaniards to tour the world as a professional golfer.

He finished seventh at the British Open in 1963 (16 years before his nephew won the first of three Open titles at the same venue) and was sixth at the U.S. Masters in 1965 – the best result by a European up to that date. He won the Open de France in 1965, the Dutch Open in 1966 and 1971, the Open de Portugal in 1963, 1969 and 1970, the Italian Open in 1971 and the Spanish Open in 1963. He also triumphed a number of times outside Europe, including victory at the Brazil Open in 1965.

In 2001, he and his two sons Gabriel and Jose Antonio, achieved their dream of building a nine-hole par three course, driving range and golf academy in the Cantabrian village of Aguero, close to Pedrena.

"He is my father, my teacher, my trainer, my coach – everything," his son Jose Antonio Sota said recently. "His philosophy is work, fighting, training… and those are the qualities that one should develop both in training and on the golf course."

"The members of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation would like to express their deepest condolences to family and friends," the federation said in a statement on their website. It is indeed a sad day when a golfer who managed to influence the game in a positive way, passes away.

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