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Severiano Ballesteros is undergoing a third operation to remove a malignant tumour that threatens his life.

The Spaniard, 51, faces an uncertain future as surgeons battle to remove the remains of the tumour lodged deep within his brain. Today's operation began at 0930BST and is expected to go on all day.

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Doctors at La Paz hospital in Madrid, where Ballesteros is being treated, said in a statement: “The operation is scheduled for Friday and is designed to relieve pressure on his brain caused by an oedema and bleeding which have recently developed. The remaining parts of the tumour, located in a very deep part of the brain, will be removed in the operation.

“A study of cells already removed has revealed the tumour is classified as oligoastrocytoma, a type that affects cells that cover and protect the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The patient remains stable within the seriousness.”

Three doctors will operate on Ballesteros — Javier Heredero, head of the hospital’s neurosurgery unit, will be accompanied by the neurosurgeons, Marcelino Pérez Álvarez and Alberto Isla. The operation is due to begin early in the morning and is expected to last until the afternoon.

Professor Geoffrey Pilkington, a tumour expert at the University of Portsmouth, said that Ballesteros’s type of tumour was very difficult to eradicate but a patient’s survival time could be improved by radiotherapy, followed by chemotherapy.

Another doctor, who declined to be named, said: “The news is not good. It is always a bad sign if there is bleeding after surgery and the amount of swelling is worrying. It’s unfortunate that it is necessary to do a third operation. It may well be that the tumour is deeply seated, a position which makes it exceptionally difficult to remove without doing considerable damage to previously healthy brain tissue.”

Keith Hopcroft, a GP, also said that the need for a third bout of surgery was a worrying sign, because Ballesteros was already likely to be in a weakened condition after his first two operations. “It sounds as though there has been delayed bleeding, either from the tumour itself or from the effects of the earlier operation,” Hopcroft said. “They will need to evacuate the blood clot which is putting pressure on his brain, which is life-threatening. After two lots of surgery he will be in a bad condition already, so you would think that it is looking quite serious.”

Ballesteros was taken to hospital on October 6 after collapsing and suffering from a fit as he waited to board a plane from Madrid to Munich for a golf exhibition. The Spaniard had one operation for the removal of the tumour and a follow-on procedure, a decompressive craniectomy, two days later when his brain began to swell.

The latest news will come as a blow to Carmen Botin, his former wife, and their three children, who are understood to have kept a vigil at the hospital. Since he was taken ill, golfers around the world have sent best wishes to one of the most charismatic men to have played the game. Lee Westwood, a former Ryder Cup team-mate, said that “everybody on the European tour makes a good living and owes nearly all of it to Seve”.

There are plans to honour Ballesteros, the winner of five majors and more than 80 titles in his career, at the Volvo Masters next week at Valderrama, the scene of his triumph as Europe Ryder Cup captain in 1997.