On the eve of his 20th Masters appearance, Seve Ballesteros is fighting it.

The golf swing that brought him 72 titles worldwide and two Masters Tournament green jackets still looks silky smooth, but he's mired in perhaps the worst slump of his 23-year professional career.

Arguably the dominant player in the Masters in the 1980s with two victories and four more top five finishes, Ballesteros' confidence has hit an all-time low.

The most distressing part about it is the fact Ballesteros is only 38, an age when many top golfers start to hit their stride. Look at Greg Norman, the No. 1-ranked player in the world. He's 41.

``I haven't been playing that much this year and I don't have much confidence,'' Ballesteros said. ``I just don't feel good about my game. It's time to pick up the confidence.''

``I haven't spoken to Seve in a long time, but he's just bogged down,'' Nick Faldo said. ``I just think he's not trusting the instruction he's getting and not sticking with one direction. You know, he's sort of just looking too much.''

``All golfers have been through this and it's no fun,'' said Keith Fergus, who was paired with Ballesteros the first two rounds of last week's BellSouth Classic, where the Spaniard shot 78-78 and missed the cut by a mile.

``He'll be back,'' Fergus said. ``I'm not worried about him. He's still capable of winning the Masters. It's just a matter of getting the confidence back. He's just not hitting it as crisp as he would like to, but he will. He's still got plenty of short game.''

``He's having a lot of problems,'' Renton Laidlaw of The London Evening Standard said of Ballesteros. ``I think you've just got to let him work it out. I think it would be premature, even at this stage, to write him off completely. You never know what he might do.

``Whether he will be the force he once was, who knows?'' Laidlaw said. ``I don't think so, but I would be loath to suggest that. I think there is still plenty of good golf there if he can just sort something out.''

His game was in disrepair during the Ryder Cup in September, so Ballesteros took a six-month break from competition. Since returning in early March in the Moroccan Open, he shot 78-79. The next week, in the Dubai Desert Classic, Ballesteros shot 71-70-74-77.

Then came The Players Championship in late March. Ballesteros shot 41 on his first nine holes and then withdrew on the 11th hole, complaining of a bad back.

Last week, Ballesteros was 12-over-par for his two rounds in the BellSouth Classic.

Always an erratic driver, Ballesteros is hitting it in places even he hasn't been before. The man who Faldo once said was ``a danger to wildlife'' because of his sprayed tee shots hit just 11 fairways in two rounds of the BellSouth Classic.