Could be any morning at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe. It’s nine o’clock. There’s a match on the 1st tee. Nicolo Galletti and Alejandro del Rey against David Puig and Josele Ballester. Four extraordinary products from the Arizona State University factory. But it’s not Karsten, the home of the Sun Devils, but the Black course at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, designed by Mr. Javier Arana. And it’s not just any morning. It’s Tuesday of the Open de España, the first for Ballester and Galletti, the second for Puig, first as a professional, and the fourth for Del Rey. You see, Alex is the veteran…
Arizona should be proud. That four of their kids are playing a match a few hours before the Open de España is something incredible. But it’s not just them. Jon Rahm and Max Rottluff also came out of the Sun Devil factory. Six bulls, six. In Madrid. Serious stuff. Even more curious is that these four practically passed the baton at the university: Galletti, the oldest, to Del Rey, Alex to Puig, and David to Ballester. Rahm and Rottluff are from Galletti’s generation.
Let’s get to the action. Who won the match? They played nine holes, from 1 to 9, and Galletti and Del Rey won by 1 up. Close. “Well, if it had been stroke play we would have beaten them by a mile,” Del Rey points out. Makes sense. Galletti made a hole-in-one on the 3rd. Blink and you miss it. If they weren’t practicing, they could go straight to the 4th. Then, another bomb from the veteran pair. Del Rey and Nicolo made eagle on the 7th. Both of them. In case there was any doubt about who was taking that hole.
However, that’s the beauty of match play, you get a hole-in-one and two eagles on the same hole and still manage to reach the last hole alive. These things happen in this format, you can ask David Puig. He experienced it firsthand in Dallas this weekend. He played singles on Saturday against Lucas Herbert in the semifinals of LIV Golf. By the 9th hole, he had made six birdies and the match was tied. He ended with nine birdies and lost by one up. Amazing. Match play at its purest.
Ballester still hasn’t taken off the glove with which he won last Sunday at the Fighting Illini Invitational. And he doesn’t need to. They are good memories. Besides, he has three messages written on it that helped him conquer the Olympia Fields Country Club.
– Always believe!
– Here and now
– Width in the back
Josele confesses to Ten Golf that he usually writes these kinds of ideas on his glove before going out to play. It changes, depending on what he feels his game and mind need. “Last week it was width in the back, as a technical concept, because I was coming up a bit inside,” he explains. In principle, he will play the Open de España with these tips written, although it can’t be ruled out that he might write some new ones if needs change. It’s pure feeling. Like his golf. However, there’s one thing that never changes: he always writes them in green. Free rein. ‘Go ahead’.
By the way, speaking of Olympia Fields, besides Rahm’s victory in the BMW Championship and Josele Ballester’s win this Sunday, we must highlight Jorge Campillo‘s second place in his university days, after a spectacular head-to-head with Rickie Fowler.
