Europe's Ryder Cup team choose image of Seve Ballesteros to adorn bags

The legend of Seve Ballesteros will be alongside the European team as they attempt to retain the Ryder Cup, with images of the late Spaniard having been silhouetted on to each player's golf bag. It was already expected that Europe's team will don the navy and white colours favoured by Ballesteros for their singles matches against USA on Sunday. But on Tuesday morning at their first appearance on the Medinah course, the bag design was also revealed. It displays Ballesteros punching the air after his memorable Open Championship win of 1984. "The silhouette was pretty obvious," said José María Olazábal, Europe's captain. "He always said that was the sweetest moment in his career, winning at St Andrews, making that putt to beat Tom Watson. It's tough for me, it's the first time Seve is not going to be with us at the Ryder Cup. He has meant a lot to me and to the team, and I wanted to have something that was present to each and every player.We came up with the idea that it would be nice to have Seve's silhouette, and so every time somebody gets to grab a club or something from the bag they can see the silhouette. I thought it was important for us to have Seve's memory and presence during this week." A further tribute to Ballesteros arrived from Justin Rose, who will play in Olazábal's team. "He was one of the few guys, I would say, when I was struggling on tour when I first turned pro, to put his arm around me in a sense, more metaphorically, but just to give me some words of encouragement," the Englishman explained."One of my favourite memories is winning my first tournament, the Memorial Tournament, and Seve was the guy being honoured that year from the Memorial Tournament."