Golf: Seve steady behind Els

SEVE BALLESTEROS lived up to his new nickname of 'Steady Seve' at the Peugeot Spanish Open in Madrid yesterday. He was well satisfied with his first-round 72 despite being five shots behind the leader Ernie Els. The South African had seven birdies in his five-under-par 67.

Ballesteros parred the first 11 holes and his only two bogeys came when he missed a three- foot putt at the 13th and a six- footer at the 14th.

Els, fourth on the European money list after winning the Dubai Desert Classic in January, leads Peter Mitchell, big- hitting Steven Richardson and Mark McNulty, of Zimbabwe, by one shot.

Richardson, who has missed the cut in six of his last seven tournaments, hit his best form of the year when he covered his first nine holes in a six-under- par 30. But he could not keep it up, coming home in 38.