MADRID -- Golf great Seve Ballesteros has suffered "severe deterioration" in his recovery from a cancerous brain tumor and is being cared for at home.

The 54-year-old Spanish star was resting at his home in the northern Spanish town of Pedrena, where he has mostly been since undergoing four operations in late 2008, his family said Friday.

"The family will inform accordingly about any change in his health condition and takes this opportunity of thanking everyone for the support that both Seve and his own family have been receiving during all this time," a statement on the golfer's website said.

It said his "neurological condition has suffered a severe deterioration."

Ballesteros won three British Opens and two Masters with a game marked by spectacular improvisational play. One of the best-known personalities in Spain and the golfing world, he also won 50 times on the European Tour and is widely credited with transforming European golf.

Spanish golfers Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez were visibly upset after finishing their second rounds at the Spanish Open in Terrassa and declined to speak to reporters.

"We tried to talk to them after their rounds but they couldn't even speak because they were crying. They couldn't even talk," Spanish Open spokeswoman Maria Acacia Lopez-Bachiller told The Associated Press by telephone. "This had to be the saddest competition in terms of ambiance today. I've never seen anything like it."