Severiano Ballesteros yesterday withdrew from The Open Championship, paving the way for his fellow Spaniard José Maria Olazábal to join the field at St Andrews from July 14-17.
Ballesteros said: "I do not feel that my level of golf is adequate for me to compete in The Open this year so with great regret I have withdrawn from the Championship.
"I wish to stress that I have no plans to retire, and that I will be at The Open where I will attend the Past Champions Dinner on Tuesday July 12 where I will very much look forward to seeing my good friend Jack.”
"Jack Nicklaus, of course, is the best golfer of all time and it will be a very emotional week for him as it will still be for me. I will also look forward to saying hello to the many friends whose support I will always appreciate."
Ballesteros, aged 48, won The Open Championship in 1979 and 1988 at Royal Lytham & St Annes and famously at St Andrews in 1984. He has won 77 tournaments worldwide including two Masters Tournaments and a record 50 European Tour titles.
Peter Dawson said: "We know that Seve is disappointed, particularly with The Open being played at St Andrews but we hope to see him competing again in years to come."
Under Section G, The Starting Field, of the Conditions of Entry, his place in the Open is taken by Olazábal, who missed out on one of the exempt places in International Final Qualifying at Sunningdale on Monday.
Section G states: ' In the event of an exempt player withdrawing from the Championship or further places becoming available in the starting field, after IFQ Europe and America, these places will be allocated in ranking order of entrants from the OWGR at the time that intimation of withdrawal is received by the Championship Committee. Any withdrawals following issue of OWGR Week 27 will be taken in ranking order from OWGR week 27.'
Yesterday, at the time of the withdrawal, the highest ranked player in OWGR entered, but not yet in The Open, was José Maria Olazábal.
