Earlier this month, Jose Luis Ballester became the first Spaniard to win the U.S. Amateur. Although he wasn’t the first Spaniard to play in front of an away crowd at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.
Sergio Garcia played the villain during the 2016 Ryder Cup, especially when he faced fan-favorite Phil Mickelson in Sunday singles, an epic match they eventually halved.
Ballester didn’t deal with most of the things Garcia had to while at Hazeltine — the Ryder Cup and U.S. Amateur are different animals — but he was playing in front of a mostly U.S. crowd, which included dozens of friends and family of Noah Kent, the other match-play finalist who went to college just a few hours south at Iowa University.
Luckily, Ballester had Garcia on his side to help.
This teen lost the U.S. Amateur final. But he gained something invaluable
Ballester, an Arizona State senior, is coached by Garcia’s dad, Victor, and he’s known the Garcia family for the last seven or eight years. He’s played with Sergio before and has grown closer to him over the last few. They kept in contact throughout the U.S. Am, too.
“It was pretty nice to have him following really closely all week and getting his messages after every match,” Ballester said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar Podcast. “He called me the night before [the final] and gave me advice, especially on how to deal with the crowd. He kind of told me that the best way to shut them up is to play your golf.”
Ballester never trailed in the 36-hole final. He birdied two of the first four and was 3 up after four holes, and he was 4 up after the first 18. He was still 4 up with six to play, but Kent battled back and Ballester gave away a couple of holes with bogeys.
On the 36th hole, Kent needed to win to force extra holes, but Ballester two-putted for par to win the hole and take the match 2 up.
“When you come to this final and to this kind of opportunities,” Ballester said after his win, “you want to write your name in history.”
You can watch the complete interview with Ballester below.
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