📍Pedreña, Cantabria, Spain
1957 – 1976“I was born in April 1957 in Pedreña, a fishing and farming village on the Bay of Santander in Cantabria, in a stone farmhouse that my great-grandparents had built, where we slept in rooms above the cattle stalls. My father, Baldomero, was a farmer and fisherman, and my mother, Carmen, was the sister of Ramón Sota, a professional golfer who had played in the Masters. The village sat beside the Real Golf Club de Pedreña, built on farmland that included my grandfather's, and all four of us brothers became golfers. When I was about seven, my brother Manuel gave me the head of an old three-iron. I fitted it with sticks for a shaft, soaking them in water overnight so the wood would swell and fit tight, and I hit stones and balls on the beach below the village for hours, learning to play every kind of shot with that one club. From the front yard we hit balls down the hill to the course's second green. I caddied at the club from a young age, but caddies were not allowed to play the course, so I would sneak on in the evenings and on moonlit nights to play a few holes, and I was punished more than once for it. At ten I played in my first caddie tournament, and at sixteen I turned professional. In 1979, at twenty-two, I won the Open Championship at Royal Lytham, and I went on to win five majors and inspire Europe's Ryder Cup revival. Pedreña was always my home; I lived there all my life, and my house and the beach where I learned are part of the legend.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today