IT is now over eight months since Seve Ballesteros passed away but still barely a day goes by without someone referring to the massive contribution he made to the game of golf.

At the end of September Europe’s Solheim Cup team revealed they had drawn inspiration from the Spaniard while defeating America at Killeen Castle and a few weeks later the rejuvenated Sergio Garcia also paid his own handsome tribute when he dedicated his win at the Andalucia Masters to the charismatic former Masters and Open champion.

Seve is gone but will never be forgotten and I can only hope that the organisers of Viva La Vida – a celebration of his life to be held at the Natural History Museum in London in mid-December – raise huge sums for the Seve Ballesteros Foundation and Cancer Research.

I also trust it is not too long before officialdom comes up with a fitting and lasting tribute for the man who played such a pivotal role in putting European golf on the map back in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Back in May when Seve departed this world for that great golf course in the sky there was much talk of what could be done to commemorate his contribution. 

I liked Colin Montgomerie’s suggestion that Seve’s iconic silhouette should be amalgamated into the European Tour’s official logo but as that idea would appear to have been discounted I think the time has come to come up with a couple of suitable alternatives.

Seve’s name was always synonymous with the Ryder Cup so it would be entirely appropriate if starting next year the PGA and PGA of America agreed to put up a Seve Ballesteros Memorial Trophy to be awarded to the Man of the Match at the biennial contest. 

Graeme McDowell would have been a worthy recipient of such an accolade in 2010 and I cannot help but feel that two years on all 24 competitors at Medinah would be honoured to be feted in this way.

The Spaniard was also rightly regarded as one of the greatest shot-makers of all time so I believe it would also be fitting if the European Tour’s Shot of the Month and Shot of the Year awards were augmented to include his name. 

McDowell won last year’s annual award for his crucial birdie putt on the 16th during his Ryder Cup singles against Hunter Mahan. Seve himself would have been an obvious choice in 1983 for the miraculous 3 wood shot he hit some 220 yards from a deep bunker to edge of the green during the last day of the Ryder Cup at West Palm Beach in Florida.

I commend both these suggestions to the authorities and in the meantime have no doubt NCG readers will enjoy this month’s tribute.

When putting the pages together the editor asked me to come up with something fresh on Ballesteros and while that is by no means easy given the reams of newsprint dedicated to his exploits it did get me thinking about the Spaniard’s contribution to the climax of the 1986 Masters tournament.

Jack Nicklaus’s charge to victory at the age of 46 remains one my favourite moments in almost 30 years as a golf journalist but what is often forgotten is it might not have happened but for Seve’s collapse over the final few holes.

Ballesteros all but lost his chance to claim a third Green Jacket when he dumped his second shot into the water on the par-5 15th and not for the first time it made me wonder why he almost always went for broke when playing the percentages would have been a more sensible option. 

The answer was finally provided last year and it came from Seve’s great friend and Ryder Cup partner Jose Maria Olazabal as he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Olazabal insisted his compatriot played golf with a different agenda than most of his peers. That is what made him so thrilling to watch even when things were not going well. Olazabal said Seve craved competition more than playing golf; the game was simply the vehicle through which he could fulfil that need.

“It was the fight that Seve relished,” Olazabal confirmed as he got right to the heart of Seve’s psyche. “I play golf just for the sake and the enjoyment of playing the game but Seve was different. He was there to prove to everybody that he was the best.”