Spanish golf legend Severiano Ballesteros, a five-time major winner who retired last year, was hospitalized Monday in Madrid after he briefly lost consciousness, the hospital said.

"His condition is stable," the La Paz University Hospital said in a statement, adding the 51-year-old was undergoing tests.

The hospital said it would provide no further details at the request of his family.

Ballesteros won the British Open in 1979, 1984 and 1988 and became the first European to win the Masters championship in 1980, a title he repeated in 1983. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1999.

One of four professional golfing brothers, Ballesteros had not been a force in golf during the decade before his retirement due to back injuries.

Known for his flamboyant and imaginative style of play, he won one of his three British Open titles by playing a shot from a temporary parking lot.

© 2008 AFP/sid