St. John's University Athletics
Mike Ballo Jr. Claims Westchester Golf Association Open Title
7/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
July 17, 2012
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. -- St. John's men's golf alumnus Mike Ballo Jr. took home the Westchester Golf Association's 90th Open Championship after carding a 69-66-75--210(-6) over the two-day tournament, winning in a playoff over amateur Max Buckley.
"This win feels great," Ballo said. "I've had a bunch of second-place finishes in the last eight months or so, and getting the first win is always the hardest, so hopefully I can build off of this."
The 2010 STJ grad found himself in command as he led the tournament outright after the first two rounds, sitting nine-under par. However, a rough opening nine in the tournament's final round, coupled by a strong showing by Buckley saw Ballo five strokes off the pace on the back nine.
"At that point, I was just trying to make myself believe that anything could happen and that I just needed to continue to play good golf and see what happened," Ballo said.
What happened was a series of five-straight pars by Ballo, combined with a string of four bogeys by Buckley, leaving the former All-BIG EAST standout down by just one heading into the 18th hole. After drilling his drive down the middle and hitting a wedge within 10 feet of the hole, Ballo had a birdie putt to send the two players into a playoff for the title.
"I miss that putt on 18 and the tournament was over. I thought back to the Massachusetts Open, where I had a 12-foot putt to force a playoff and felt like I rushed it, so this time I just tried to go as slow as possible and know I could make it," Ballo said.
On the first playoff hole, Ballo reached the par-5 first hole's green in two shots and tapped in a one foot birdie putt to take the win and add to an impressive résumé that includes two MGA Ike titles (2009, 2010) and now the WGA Open Championship.
"The ultimate goal is to gain status to a PGA affiliated tour as soon as possible," Ballo said. "After this though, all I can do is to try and get better and get ready for Q-School."
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