Roller coaster ride finally comes to an end for flamboyant Ballesteros

Unsurprisingly, the Bingley caddie dropped everything to carry the bag for the most charismatic, pioneering, magical golfer to have ever graced the game.

Foster was one of many blessed to have shared time in the company of European golf’s groundbreaking matador.

The winner of five major championships, Spaniard Seve transcended the sport, making golf fashionable with his flamboyant, swashbuckling style.

He transformed the Ryder Cup from a biennial thrashing of Great Britain and Ireland by the United States, into a European retaliation that provided the platform for the current domination the continent is enjoying.

Foster caddied for Ballesteros for nearly seven years, spanning two Ryder Cups at Kiawah Island in 1991 and the Belfry in 1993.

“I have so many memories and there were so many tough times along the way,” reflected Foster, who is now on the bag of Worksop’s current world No 1 Lee Westwood.

“It was such a roller coaster with Seve Ballesteros. But the good far outweighed the bad.

“I was set to take up an assistant pro job at Ilkley – but that was never going to happen when he rang me a month before I was due to start.

“I’d been caddying for eight years and I’d grown up watching him. I knew the magnitude of Seve Ballesteros and it was a massive honour to be asked by such a great man.

“I look at his death two ways because it’s almost a blessing in disguise he had suffered so much in recent years, but on the other hand it’s very sad to lose a great man, a great golfer and a great friend.”

Ballesteros, 54, fought a three-year battle against a brain tumour before succumbing on Saturday morning.

The funeral is to be held on Wednesday in his home village of Pedrena near Santander, where Ballesteros’s family gathered late last week knowing that, barring a miracle, the end was nigh.

And after he died he was dressed in his favourite golfing outfit – blue pullover and blue trousers.

His brother Baldomero told reporters that they were the clothes the five-time major winner usually wore during championships on his “Sundays of glory”.

Foster says he will do everything in his power to attend the funeral.

He said: “It’s just a great pity he didn’t get the send off he deserved at St Andrews (the Open) last year. It’s very sad he never got to say goodbye.

“He was a true superstar of the sport and it was a great honour, and very humbling to work with him.

“I owe everything to him, everything that’s happened in my career owes much to him, I learned so much; his competitiveness, his edge, his golf course management.

“I can’t thank him enough.

“Funnily enough I got a text message from him just a couple of weeks ago. I’d texted him on the Saturday of the Masters, his birthday, and he sent one back saying ‘Billy you were my favourite caddy and a good friend’. That’s a text I shan’t be deleting.”

The tributes to Ballesteros have been pouring in throughout the weekend.

A minute’s silence and a round of applause was even held before a tennis semi-final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, illustrating how the world of sport has lost a truly giant figure.

Stars of golf have been paying their tributes.

Jose Maria Olazabal, the other half of the most successful partnership in Ryder Cup history (11 wins, two halves and only two losses) and current Ryder Cup captain, said: “The best tribute we can pay to Seve is to go on playing for him, although no tribute will ever do justice to everything he did for golf and to everything he gave us.”

Tiger Woods said: “Seve was one of the most talented and exciting golfers to ever play the game. His creativity and inventiveness on the golf course may never be surpassed. His death came much too soon.”

Davis Love, current American Ryder Cup captain, added: “Everybody wanted to be as exciting and fun and flashy as Seve. Maybe hit a few more fairways, but everybody wanted that style. They wanted to be aggressive and be able to play like that.”

“Because of the way he played the game of golf, you were drawn to him,” added Phil Mickelson. “You wanted to go watch him play. He had charisma and he kind of had so many shots that it was fun to watch him play.”

World No 1 Westwood, who played under Ballesteros’s captaincy at the 1997 Ryder Cup, said: “You always knew when Seve walked in a room even if you had your back to him. He oozed charisma and brought a whole new meaning to aura.

“Seve gave his everything for golf and what the game and the European Tour in particular owes him is immense. We would not be playing where and for what we are today without him having graced the world’s fairways. He was that iconic a figure.

“Everybody loved Seve, although there were probably a few Americans during Ryder Cup week who had an alternative opinion.

“But even those whom Seve had tortured with his sheer brilliance on the course were among the first to offer their support and best wishes when he started his long battle against cancer.”

Seve’s compatriot Sergio Garcia added: “I am devastated. He has inspired me so much throughout my career and I admired him above all for his fighting spirit – never more so than in the manner in which he has battled this terrible illness.

“It is the most enormous loss to the world of sport to lose this great man, although he will be remembered and loved forever. He was a champion on the golf course, but also a champion for the game in Spain and Europe.”

Colin Montgomerie said: “There are very few legends in the world, Seve is one of them. I never saw such a talent to swing a golf club and we may never see it again.

“He has left us with so many wonderful lasting memories.”

Sports fans in Britain do not have to wait long for an opportunity to help the Seve Ballesteros Foundation because it is chosen charity for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth later this month.

Severiano’s five of the best

1976 Open - the 19-year-old delivers a delicate pitch-and-run through the bunkers on the last to claim a share of second.

1979 Open - clinches his first Claret Jug with the famous car park shot.

1983 Ryder Cup - aaved his match against Fuzzy Zoeller with an extraordinary 245-yard three wood from under the lip of a bunker.

1984 Open - a 20ft putt on the 18th which denied Tom Watson a sixth title

1993 European Masters - a pitching wedge over a wall and between overhanging branches to the fringe of the last green.