Golf

Stuart gets the breaks in Missouri

Leading Norfolk amateur Stuart Ballingall has transferred his winning ways to the US college circuit.

The Dunston Hall teenager, who has twice won the Norfolk Open, is now a freshman at the University of Missouri where he's become a regular in the college golf team and already chalked up his first win.

His success came in his first event and he remarked: “I wasn't sure what to expect. We had six qualifying rounds before the tournament and I shot five under and six under in the last two rounds so I knew I was playing well enough to compete.

“The first tournament was the weakest field we've played in this year but it was still cool to win.”

He was one-under par for the 54-hole event, with a three-under 69 and a 71 sandwiching a middle round of 75. His efforts also helped his team into first place in the tournament - and that's all-important in college golf.

“Since the first event we've been consistently playing against teams that are ranked higher than us and the standard has been really good. Last week's tournament included 11 teams who are ranked inside the top 50 in America. We were third going into the final round then let it slip, but we know we're good enough as a team to contend in strong fields. Hopefully we can get a win soon and break into the top 50 in the rankings.”

Ballingall has been helped to settle into college life by fellow Norfolk player Will Harrold of Sheringham. He's in his second year at Missouri where he is also a regular on the college team and Ballingall remarked: “Having Will here is a big help.”

University life is a big change for Ballingall, who spent last year playing golf full-time. But he comments: “It's definitely for the better. Getting back to studying is a bit difficult but I feel it's a lot better than just playing golf, like I was last year, because it's something different to break the practice up.”

Days now consist of 6am workouts three-times a week, morning studies, then practice or qualifying all afternoon and early evening. If necessary there's more study time in the evenings.

The golf schedule is busy. Ballingall has played five tournaments in six weeks on “awesome” and challenging courses, each measuring over 7000 yards and featuring fast greens and long rough.

He's producing his best golf for a long time in qualifying events where he has a stroke average of just over 70. Now he's keen to transfer that to his tournament play where his stroke average is just over 74.

“I need the change that!” he said.

And one feature has made Ballingall feel really at home: “One thing I didn't expect was how the weather would be. In our last tournament I played in four layers, waterproofs and a woolly hat! So it turns out that playing in the weather back home has set me up well for college golf!”