What the classification of the Puerto Rico Open says about Ángel Ayora’s weekend is that he made two rounds of 75 and 72 strokes and ended up in the last place of those who made the cut. However, if we scratch what happened on Saturday and Sunday, with the help of his team, it turns out that there is much more to it than that +3 partial. In summary, it could be said that the young man from Marbella completed an accelerated golf master in 36 holes.
Obviously, things did not go as he wished. He was expecting a much better weekend, but what Ayora is not going to do is lick his wounds and waste time. He is not going to allow himself that luxury. In fact, they took advantage of the rounds on Saturday and Sunday to scrutinize, analyze and extract valuable lessons that will serve for the future. It is the advantage of having your coach, Juan Ochoa, as your caddie, and having the invaluable help of Javier Ballesteros, his agent and someone who knows a lot about this, outside the ropes.
“The first conclusion is that making the cut in your first PGA Tour tournament at 19 is wonderful, let’s put that first. But once this is said, the weekend served us a lot to know what we need to improve, both from a technical point of view and strategy. In fact, on Sunday we put some things into practice and it went well. He should have done four less, but he didn’t make any putt and stayed with the par”, assures Ochoa to Ten Golf.
Juan was noting in his head and in the yardage book all the details that he understood needed to be polished, while Ballesteros was taking notes on his mobile and recording videos. A full-fledged work session with picadors. A work session in competition. Then, at meals and dinners, everything was put together, analyzed and conclusions were drawn.
The final balance is very positive. “From tee to green, Ángel is more than ready to win on the PGA Tour. What we need is to improve the putt, the short game and be a little more alert with the strategy”, assures Juan. In this sense, the numbers are irrefutable. His recovery percentage during the four days in Puerto Rico was 41.67 percent (10 out of 24), a very improvable figure.
Ochoa considers what happened to be good, although he never likes to be at the bottom of the table. “It has been a very good experience, we continue to grow and the analysis we have done has been very valuable. It’s about learning fast, faster than the rest”, concludes Juan.
As we say, Ayora is not one to waste time and if something stands out it is his absolute commitment to the great goal of succeeding in golf. He is not afraid of discipline. Here is an example. Today they fly back from Puerto Rico, arrive in Malaga on Wednesday and on Thursday they already have an appointment at eight in the morning at the gym to start working according to the conclusions they bring from Puerto Rico.
By the way, in that physical part, Kris Reitan, a Norwegian golfer who shone spectacularly as an amateur and who is finding the jump to professional difficult, is going to join the training. For now, and while the availabilities match, he is going to work the gym part together with Ayora. The connection is Ochoa himself, who met him when he was only 13 years old during the Norwegian team’s concentrations in Alcaidesa, Cadiz.
