File picture of the legendary Seve Ballesteros

Seve Ballesteros, the charismatic Spanish golfer who won the Masters twice and the British Open three times and helped propel Europe’s rise in the Ryder Cup competition with the United States, died early Saturday at his home in northern Spain, where his struggle with brain cancer had gained wide attention in the sports world. He was 54.

Ballesteros had surgery for a cancerous brain tumor in October 2008 and had been cared for at his home in the coastal town of Pedrena, where he died early Saturday morning, his family said in a statement on his website.

Ballesteros was only 19 and virtually unknown when he was thrust into the golf spotlight in July 1976. He was on the final hole of the British Open at Royal Birkdale, on England’s western coast, when he hit a brilliant chip shot between two bunkers that landed four feet from the cup.

He then sank his putt to tie Jack Nicklaus for second place behind Johnny Miller after having led for three rounds.

That daring chip, and the shots before it that rescued him after wild drives into dunes and bushes, caught the golf world’s attention and defined the kind of game that made Ballesteros one of the finest players of his era.

With a passion for perfection, an uncommon intensity and a brilliant short game, Ballesteros won five Major championships in a 10-year span. At Augusta National in 1980, he became the first European and, at 23, the youngest player to win the Masters. (Tiger Woods became the youngest in 1997 when he won the Masters at 21).

Ballesteros won the Masters again in 1983, captured the British Open in 1979, 1984 and 1988, and won the World Match Play Championship five times.

“I think he comes as close to a complete player as anybody I’ve ever seen,” his fellow golfer Ben Crenshaw had said in 1985. “He can hit every shot in the bag and do it with the style and look of a champion.”

Ballesteros won 45 events on the European Tour, and he was its earnings leader six times. He was in the vanguard of world-class Spanish golfers, preceding Jose Maria Olazabal, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Sergio Garcia. But he saw limited action in the United States, winning four PGA Tour events in addition to his Masters triumphs.

Told of Ballesteros’s deteriorating condition, Olazabal and Jimenez were visibly upset after finishing their second rounds at the Spanish Open in Terrassa on Friday and would not speak with reporters.

In Charlotte, N.C., at the Wells Fargo Championship, Phil Mickelson said Friday that beyond Ballesteros’s impact on the game, “the greatest thing about Seve is his flair and his charisma”. “Because of the way he played the game of golf, you were drawn to him,” Mickelson added. “You wanted to go watch him play.”

Woods described Seve Ballesteros as one of the most talented and exciting golfers to have played the game in a warm tribute.

“I was deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Seve Ballesteros,” Woods said on Twitter. “I always enjoyed spending time with him at the Champions dinner each year at the US Masters. 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.”

Ballesteros was something of a golf magician. In addition to his miraculous recoveries from wild drives, he could balance three golf balls on top of one another, a favourite trick. Handsome with a swashbuckling style, he was a favourite of the television cameras, as Frank Hannigan, senior executive director of the United States Golf Association, remarked at the 1985 Masters.

“He’s made for this medium,” Hannigan said. “They come in close for a shot, and they can’t miss. You can see his thought processes. For me, he is more fun to watch than any player in the world.”

Rafael Nadal, too, was visibly upset when he watched a video screen showing highlights of Ballesteros’ career, before the Madrid Open semi-final match against Roger Federer. “It’s a sad day for Spain, for all athletes,” said Nadal, who played golf with him.

Severiano Ballesteros was born in Pedreña, where his father, a former Spanish-champion rower, was a farmer. His three older brothers, Baldomero, Manuel and Vicente, were golf pros, as was his uncle Ramon Sota.

As a boy, he batted stones with a homemade golf club on the beaches near his family’s stone farmhouse. When he was 8, his brother Manuel gave him a 3-iron, and he began to caddie at a prestigious golf club in Santander, near his home.

He won the caddie championship there at age 12 with a 79, sneaked onto the course at night to practice his shots, quit school at 14 and turned pro at 16.

Ballesteros is survived by two sons and a daughter and his three brothers. His marriage to Carmen Botíended in divorce in 2004.