Hundreds attend Ballesteros's funeral

(GETTY IMAGES)

Hundreds of mourners applauded as Seve Ballesteros's ashes were carried into his local church by his three children for the funeral service in honour of the five-times major winner yesterday.

A 10-minute procession from his house overlooking the Bay of Biscay down into the small village of Pedrena was headed up by a lone piper and Ballesteros's children Javier, Miguel and Carmen at the front of the line carrying the urn.

Children of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation carried three irons aloft to signify the club with which he started practising with as a child. Four former Ryder Cup captains – Nick Faldo, Bernard Gallacher, Sam Torrance and Colin Montgomerie and next year's captain Jose Maria Olazabal joined the family under cloudy grey skies.

Today, Tiger Woods tees off in the first round of The Players Championship aware that he is one poor performance away from falling outside the world's top 10.

As he has not played for five weeks, is on a losing run of 18 months and, by his past standards, has a ghastly record at Sawgrass, that is far from the unthinkable proposition it once was. He missed last week's event in Charlotte after tweaking his left knee and injured his Achilles, but felt that with the US Open coming up next month he had to play. "The whole idea is that I peak four times a year, and I'm trying to get ready for Congressional, and I need some playing time," Woods said.