Ignore his recent golf scores and the impression is that the years have been kind to Seve Ballesteros. Either way, declining tournament form seemed to do little to diminish the appeal of the conquistador, when he visited Dublin yesterday for the announcement of the Seve Trophy at Druids Glen on April 19th to 22nd of next year.

Seven weeks past his 44th birthday, he looked fit and relaxed in charcoal-grey slacks and a light-grey sweater bearing the logo of the 2002 event. And he was happy to talk about his affection for this country, covering a quarter of a century since his Irish Open debut at Portmarnock in 1976, when he finished fifth behind Ben Crenshaw.

As part of yesterday's promotional effort, there was the sight of a Seve special at Druids Glen where he went down on his knees and whacked a three-wood onto the island green at the 190-yard 17th hole. And it won him a bottle of Rioja, his favourite tipple, on the foot of a bet made with John Dully, chief executive of Bord Failte, over dinner the previous night.

"It wasn't as good as the shot at Royal Dublin," he conceded.

This was a reference to the clinic he gave, free of charge, on the Tuesday evening of Irish Open week in August 1983, when he hit a driver off his knees onto the green at the 255yard 16th. "That was a really good one," he added with a broad grin. Another memory of that evening was watching him play miraculous bunker recoveries with an open-faced two iron.

Meanwhile, at lunchtime yesterday in a Dublin hotel, he stood chatting for a while with Eamonn Darcy, the tournament professional at Druids Glen. This was a trigger for other memories, of the 1987 Ryder Cup matches at Muirfield Village where Darcy, with a one-hole win over Ben Crenshaw and Seve, with a 2 and 1 victory over Curtis Strange, secured the two points for an historic European triumph.

There has been much talk about appearance money on the European Tour over the last two decades, when the winning of a major title was considered sufficient to warrant up-front inducements from sponsors. In terms of putting bums on seats, however, most sponsors would agree that the only players who delivered on such payments here, were Ballesteros, Greg Norman and most recently, John Daly.

Now, he had us wanting to believe that having been without a tournament win since the Spanish Open of 1995, he is on the verge of a comeback, just like Nick Faldo seems to be achieving. "The best way for me to get my game back is by myself, without any coaches," he said with an air of finality.

He went on: "Muscles have memories and I think it is a mistake to try and change things from the natural way. That is what I admired most about Christy O'Connor Snr, when we played together in the Irish Open at Portmarnock in 1980. Christy had a fantastic pair of hands and a wonderful, natural way of playing the game."

As to next year's event, he said: "The tournament (Seve Trophy) puts me under a bit of pressure. I know I have to compete well if I am to beat Colin Montgomerie, like I did at Sunningdale last year. And I hope the public here will still support me, even if my team outplays the British and Irish."

Ballesteros then spoke with typical directness about a lack of competitiveness among current players who should be challenging the supremacy of Tiger Woods. "Tiger has toughened his mind in a way as to make the others afraid of him," said the player who, in his prime, feared nobody. "They feel they have no chance of beating him and are happy to play for second place."

He went on: "I'm surprised that Tiger is dominating players like (Phil) Mickelson and (David) Duval so easily. And I don't think it's because there is so much money in the game. It is just that they cannot match his mental strength. I know there were times when opponents were afraid of me. That was because I convinced myself I was superior to them. And it showed."

Having delivered those views, the three-time winner of the Irish Open became a social figure once more, smiling at well-wishers and shaking hands. And if the intention was to make a good impression for the sake of his tournament, he clearly succeeded for he had no shortage of friends in Dublin yesterday.