The famous statue of Seve Ballesteros that was stolen from his home town of Pedrena has been found by police - but sadly it's no longer in one piece.
Police opened an investigation after the Seve statue was stolen from the centre of Pedrena in northern Spain last week.
And it was a case of good news, bad news as police found the statue in storage in Santander, but they found it cut up into several pieces as the alleged thief prepared to sell it.
Local media reported that a 22-year-old man from Santander had been arrested for stealing the €30,000 bronze statue, which was found in three separate pieces in the storage facility.
The head and torso of the statue had been cut into sections while the arms had been broken into pieces, with everything placed in storage buckets in preparation for being sold.
Initially created in 2009 by sculptor Salvador Garcia Ceballos, it was installed permanently in Pedrena in 2017 - the town where Seve was born and returned to before he passed away in 2011.
Police said that they had been searching local scrap yards as they feared the statue would be stripped down for sale. They also said more arrests could follow.
It's such a sad ending for the life-sized tribute to the five-time Major champion, a Spanish sporting and golfing legend.
La @guardiacivil localiza troceada, para su venta, la estatua de 'Seve' Ballesteros y detiene a un hombre por su robohttps://t.co/lh1B3bFpvK pic.twitter.com/nMsawyDwUaJanuary 30, 2026
The World Golf Hall of Famer won a further 45 times on the European Tour outside his Majors and also led Team Europe to four Ryder Cup victories and a tie during eight appearances as a player and one as captain.
The local mayor of Marina de Cudeyo, Pedro Perez, said they will talk with the sculptor about the prospect of reconstructing the statue, which he said could be done in principle.
Although it may not be possible, Perez says that officials still hope to have some tribute in Seve's name in the same square the statue was located.
"It won't stay like this; we will probably take advantage of this event to improve the space where the sculpture was located," said Perez.
"And we also intend to do so, if possible, in collaboration with the [Ballesteros] family and the foundation."
