Filming begins on "Seve" movie

The young Seve is played by José Luis Guitérrez. A film about the life of the late, great Severiano Ballesteros - “Seve” - began in the five-time major winner’s native Pedreña on Wednesday.

According to El Diario Montañes, the local paper in Santander, young Cantabrian golfer José Luis Guitérrez will play the young Seve in the movie, which is scheduled for release in April next year.

Directed by documentary film-maker John-Paul Davidson, whose CV includes “Stephen Fry In America” and “Michael Palin’s New Europe,” the movie will focus on the early part of Seve’s life in Pedreña before going into archival footage of his sensational introduction to the world stage in the 1976 Open at Royal Birkdale and his stunning career, right up to his tragic loss to a brain tumour on 7 May 2011.

In 2011, producer Stephen Evans told The Independent: “We’re dealing essentially with his youth from the age of 16 to 19. Unless you understand his youth, you’ll never understand Ballesteros and you’ll never give him the sympathy that he merits….

“If you understand his background, you’ll understand his fights and arguments with officialdom,” Evans said.

“This guy came from nowhere and fought against a level of odds I find bizarre. He had one of the most fascinating childhoods I have ever come across. It is almost straight out of Charles Dickens.”