Police Find Stolen Seve Ballesteros Statue Cut Into Pieces

The stolen Seve Ballesteros statue has been found by police in Spain, but it's been cut up into pieces by thieves looking to sell it on

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Main image of a Seve Ballesteros tifo at the 2023 Ryder Cup with an inset image of the statue that has reportedly been stolen from Padreña (top left)
(Image credit: Getty Images/Ayuntamiento de Marina de Cudeyo on Instagram)

The famous statue of Seve Ballesteros that was stolen from his home town of Pedrena has been found by police - but sadly it's no longer in one piece.

Police opened an investigation after the Seve statue was stolen from the centre of Pedrena in northern Spain last week.

Local media reported that a 22-year-old man from Santander had been arrested for stealing the €30,000 bronze statue, which was found in three separate pieces in the storage facility.

The head and torso of the statue had been cut into sections while the arms had been broken into pieces, with everything placed in storage buckets in preparation for being sold.

Initially created in ⁠2009 by sculptor Salvador Garcia Ceballos, it was installed permanently in Pedrena in 2017 - the town where Seve was born and returned to before he passed away in 2011.

Police said that they had been searching local scrap yards as they feared the statue would be stripped down for sale. They also said more arrests could follow.

It's such a sad ending for the life-sized tribute to the five-time Major champion, a Spanish sporting and golfing legend.

The World Golf Hall of Famer won a further 45 times on the European Tour outside his Majors and also led Team Europe to four Ryder Cup victories and a tie during eight appearances as a player and one as captain.

The local mayor of Marina de Cudeyo, Pedro Perez, said they will talk with the sculptor about the prospect of reconstructing the statue, which he said could be done in principle.

Although it may not be possible, Perez says that officials still hope to have some tribute in Seve's name in the same square the statue was located.

"It won't stay like this; we will probably take advantage of this event to improve the space where the sculpture was located," said Perez.

"And we also intend to do so, if possible, in collaboration with the [Ballesteros] family and the foundation."

Paul Higham
Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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