The main person responsible for integrating Juan Carlos Ferrero into Ángel Ayora‘s team is Juan Ochoa. For years, he has been the go-to man for almost everything for the golfer from Málaga. They met when he was not yet old enough to vote or drive. Since then, he has been his right hand and left hand. He is his technical coach, physical trainer, physiotherapist, caddie, and has acted as a psychologist, nutritionist, and anything else needed, whenever and wherever necessary.
Ochoa doesn’t do all these things because he’s a ‘go-getter’ or reckless, but quite the opposite, because he has spent his life training to be as comprehensive as possible. One of his maxims is that knowledge takes up no space. However, he knows it’s impossible to cover all aspects of a player with Ayora’s meteoric progression and expectations. That’s why he had been considering expanding his team for some time.
For over two years, he had his sights set on Ferrero. Ochoa understood that, despite their differences, Ayora’s case could be similar to Carlos Alcaraz‘s, and he wanted to delve into the keys to his success. As we said, he never stops learning to improve. He wanted to talk to Juan Carlos to learn more about how to best accompany someone with overflowing talent to become the Number One in the world. Due to various circumstances, that conversation never happened, and it was only now, after the relationship between Ferrero and Alcaraz ended, that he saw the opportunity.
Everything happened very quickly. He called him, they connected immediately, and arranged to play golf and see how they could help each other. Ochoa was very clear that Ferrero’s profile was ideal for Ayora. Ángel’s goal, whether he says it loudly or not, what lingers in his subconscious, is to be the best player in the world. Seen this way: no one better than Ferrero, who has been the best in his sport and has taken a young player to that same place, to join the team and contribute his experience and knowledge.
“Since last year, I’ve noticed that Ángel needs someone to help him with the mental aspect. The fact, for example, of not having won yet, could well be due to insecurity, perhaps not being clear on how to think in moments of maximum pressure. I don’t know everything about life, although I like to know about many things and prepare myself thoroughly, and I started thinking about the ideal profile. It had to be someone who had gone through the same thing as him, especially from a competition standpoint. Ferrero was ideal, and having him willing and accepting the challenge quickly has been a huge joy,” Juan explains to Ten Golf.
The connection between Ochoa and Ferrero has been immediate and electrifying. They have discovered that they understand the training and preparation of a top-level athlete in a very similar way. They speak the same language. Additionally, Alex Ruiz, Alcaraz’s nutritionist, has also joined the team. However, he didn’t come through Ferrero, as they had already contacted him before. Now they have a very good group. The harmony is total, and the organisation is very strong.
“One of the things that has caught my attention about Ferrero these days is that, for example, the other day, while playing one of the rounds of the Desert Classic, he told us he saw some gestures and postures of Ángel on the course that could be improved. I didn’t notice. That, for example, he wants to look at, analyse, and see if it’s due to something that needs to be worked on and how,” Juan recounts as an anecdote. Ferrero would be something like a ‘mentality performance’. He always knew that if he brought someone else into the team, it had to be an absolute top.
Ferrero has only been working with Ayora for a couple of weeks, but Ochoa has already noticed personally. “It allows me to relax more and focus on other things, to set aside aspects that stressed me,” he explains. One of the aspects Juan Carlos wants to work on is Ayora’s body language. “In all the rounds, there has been some moment of poor body language. He understands that he needs to show more when there are good things in the rounds (Ferrero already mentioned it in the interview with Ten Golf). For example, if he makes a bad chip and then sinks a long putt for par or birdie, not giving more importance to the bad chip than to the good putt he made. It’s about also nourishing oneself from the good and connecting with the audience, interacting more with them,” he points out.
Of course, the relationship has only just begun, and it needs time, but there is no doubt that everyone is very excited about what the future may hold. Ayora’s environment is even stronger than before, and now the goal is for all of this to bring very good things.
