Golf:Seve Ballesteros has made his first official public appearance since undergoing lifesaving surgery to remove a brain tumour last December. The 52-year-old was speaking at the launch of a cancer federation that will bear his name in Spain and admits he has felt like he has been given a second chance at life.

“The first thing that I told the doctors after I woke up from the anaesthetic was that my new name was Seve Mulligan,” he said in reference to the golf rule which permits a player to retake a shot.

“Nine months ago my life was hanging by a thread. I feel now like I have a mulligan in life.”

The five-time major winner was diagnosed with a brain tumour after losing consciousness at Madrid Airport last October.

He spent the next 66 days in La Paz hospital in Madrid where he underwent four operations before being allowed to return to his home in Bilbao on December 9th.

Ballesteros has been undergoing chemotherapy treatment since and today got the chance to praise the doctors who performed the operations to remove the tumour, describing their work as “a miracle”.

The charismatic Spaniard also likened his fight against the ailment to the birdie putt he sank on the 18th at St Andrews to help win the Open in 1984 - which he believes required a similar amount of willpower.

He added: “My recovery is like The Open in 1984 when the ball hovered on the lip of the hole. With all my energy I willed the ball to drop in and it did.

“With that ability and the doctors’ hands, I am here now.”

"This is like a dream," he added. "It was very tough at the beginning. And when the doctors explained all they had done in my brain it's a miracle.

"Life goes on and life is full of setbacks. You have to fight, that's all."

Ballesteros said he recently played nine holes of golf with his son.

"He beat me but it was a big effort," he said. "In time I will beat him."

He recalled how his doctors had explained that the tumour in his brain was the size of two golf balls. "I am a better person because the doctors took out the bad bit," he joked.

He said his new foundation will also seek to help young golfers of limited means.

"My beginnings as a caddie were not easy and I had the good fortune to be able to rely on a number of people who helped my career take off," he said.

"Golf has given me everything and I am especially pleased to be able to support and help young people in need."