GOLF legend Eduardo Romero died aged 67 on Sunday after a brave battle with cancer.
The Argentine, nicknamed El Gato – ‘The Cat’, is widely considered one of South America’s finest players.
He reached a career-high ranking of 19th in July 1991 and his best result at a major came at The Open in 1997.
Romero tied seventh at Royal Troon alongside Fred Couples and Peter O’Malley on three-under-par as Justin Leonard won his sole major.
He won eight times on the European Tour, the last of which was the Scottish Open in 2002 and secured two senior majors including the US Senior Open six years later.
Romero also landed more than 80 victories in South America and represented Argentina at 14 World Cup of Golf events, finishing second in 2000.
Away from golf, El Gato served as his home city of Villa Allende as mayor.
However, he took a leave of absence at the end of January as his health deteriorated.
Tributes poured in for the popular Argentine.
Ken Brown tweeted: “Eduardo Romero ‘El Gato‘ the beautiful golfer. What a man! Such a warm character! With a kind heart!
“Inspirational! Generous and always smiling! Legend – we’ll all miss ‘The Cat’ RIP.”
Former European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn wrote: “This really hurts. Eduardo was the nicest man.
“A great friend that always was a pleasure to be around. He had a big game but more importantly an even bigger heart.
“RIP dear El Gato. A true great ambassador for Argentina and for our game.”
European Tour COO Keith Waters, who played alongside Romero in the late 80s and early 90s, said: “All of us at the European Tour group are sad to hear of the passing of Eduardo Romero.
“Eduardo had an enviable CV, with two senior majors and national opens of France, Scotland and Spain to his name.
“He was an important part of a special group of Argentinian golfers to have played on the European Tour in the 1980s and 1990s and then on the Seniors Tour in the 2000s, and he was a fun guy to be around who always played golf with a smile on his face.
“He will be sadly missed.”
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