The reunion of former US college golf teammates Josele Ballester and James Leow could not have started under more contrasting circumstances.
The former Arizona State University (ASU) teammates, who also played alongside Ballester’s current LIV Golf League Fireballs GC teammate David Puig, both teed off on The Serapong for the opening round of he Singapore Open presented by The Business Times on Thursday .
But by the end of the first day, the pair finished on either side of the leaderboard with the Spaniard carding a three-under 68, mixing four birdies and a bogey to sit tied-13th, while the Singaporean placed tied-117th after a dismal opening 75.
Ballester, who had just come off a season-best solo third at LIV Golf Mexico four days earlier, shrugged off any fatigue from his long-haul flight to Singapore.
“One of my superpowers is that I don’t really have jet lag. Besides how brutal the travel was here, with all the cancellations and delays, I rested great last night and felt pretty good this morning,” the 22-year-old said.
His former teammate pulled out a superpower of his own on day two to make the cut after a stellar five-under to go one-under overall and fly up the rungs to tied-38th.
Nicknamed ‘The General’ by his Sun Devil teammates, having just completed military service when he enrolled at Arizona State, Leow caught up briefly with Ballester during the former’s pre-tournament practice round on Wednesday (Apr 22).
“He was scrappy, in a good way. He will always find a way to shoot a good score,” said Ballester, complimenting Leow’s ability to get up and down.
And Leow displayed that resilience as he worked his way to the weekend – but not before an hour-long trip to the practice range.
“I was actually out there hitting balls for an hour. I went through almost two and a half buckets of balls just trying to figure out if it was grip, set-up, or my shoulders, and I managed to find a bit of a better hand position and obviously with the club face and grip,” Leow said, who won the Aramco Invitational on the Asian Development Tour last year for his maiden title as a professional
By the end of Friday afternoon, the pair seemed to converge on the leaderboard – with just one stroke separating them – when Ballester carded a 72 for a two-under overall.
Still, Leow reserved praise for Ballester, with whom he had been teammates for a year during his time in the United States.
“He was really good coming in, hits it long , putts it well, good hands… it was always fun with the Spanish guys on the team,” Leow said, adding that he has been paying keen attention to their progress.
“(Josele) finished third in Mexico, while David was in second and John (Rahm) was first. All three were ASU alumni… Awesome short game, they hit it long and are really precise. I could go on and on; there’s a lot of praise for their game.”
“It’s really nice to see alumni and friends doing well on the tour, and I hope to be out there with them.”
But his journey to the big leagues will be one he paves on his own, with the 29-year-old stressing the importance of sticking to his own strengths and his own game.
“The first round was a reminder to love your own game and play to your strengths. Jose hits it a long way, Puig hits it a long way, but I don’t really hit it that long. So I played to my strengths, my iron striking was good, I putted well and did just that today.”
“There’s more course management and really being more precise. It’s about learning to have your own DNA for your game.”
