{"id":14674,"date":"2015-01-23T12:29:11","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T12:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/javier-ballesteros-the-son-of-the-myth-enters-the-fray\/"},"modified":"2015-01-23T12:29:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T12:29:11","slug":"javier-ballesteros-the-son-of-the-myth-enters-the-fray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/javier-ballesteros-the-son-of-the-myth-enters-the-fray\/","title":{"rendered":"JAVIER BALLESTEROS: The son of the myth enters the fray"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI KNOW THAT THIS IS DIFFICULT, LONG AND THAT WE HAVE TO KEEP WORKING.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you see him coming, his walk, his gestures, his way of being in the field remind you of his father. Already in the short distance, that impression increases because his tone of voice is very similar, even his turns and expressions. <\/p>\n

Javier Ballesteros, the first-born son of the incomparable Seve, has made his debut as a professional golfer. He has done it on the Costa del Sol, at La Cala Resort, and his first attempt to access the Alps Tour, the third most important circuit in the Old Continent after the European and the Challenge, has been unsuccessful. He did not pass the first phase of the Qualifying School. <\/p>\n

-How was the experience of your debut as a professional?<\/p>\n

-As an amateur I had already played important tournaments. This debut has not gone very well. The truth is that I\u2019m making some changes in my swing, I\u2019ve been training pretty well, but things haven\u2019t worked out. <\/p>\n

I was a little bit lacking in confidence, and well\u2026 I didn\u2019t play badly, but not well either. I\u2019m not happy, because you can\u2019t be satisfied when you play rounds over par and things don\u2019t go the way you want them to. Little by little, I know that this is difficult, long and that you have to keep working. <\/p>\n

-What would you highlight from your game?<\/p>\n

-I tend to have a very good short game, to be honest. From 95 or 100 meters down, around the green and in the bunker, I\u2019m a very fine player. <\/p>\n

-And the worst part?<\/p>\n

-Ehh\u2026 I still need to improve with the driver. This week I haven\u2019t shot badly at all. I was more or less happy and then the mistake appeared on the 17th hole, where I hit the ball out to the right. I had not hit any or almost none bad and it appeared again at the worst moment. <\/p>\n

I need to go a little straighter, and that\u2019s what I\u2019m improving.<\/p>\n

-Have you set goals for yourself in golf?<\/p>\n

-Like everyone, I want to end up playing on the European Tour someday. I know it\u2019s difficult, that I have a lot of things to improve, that I have a lot of work to do, but, man, if you start by setting a low goal, we\u2019re not doing well. <\/p>\n

I know there are a lot of people pretending the same, that they are very good, that they train a lot, but in the end it\u2019s all about training more than the rest.<\/p>\n

-You are studying law, do you intend to finish your degree? <\/p>\n

-It\u2019s wrong for me to say it, but I\u2019m a pretty good student. The thing is that for the last couple of years I have abandoned my career a little bit and I have focused more on golf. I know I have to finish it, I don\u2019t know if I will finish it by distance or how, but I know I have to do it, regardless of whether I do well or badly in golf. <\/p>\n

-I suppose you will be asked a lot about this: does your last name condition you a lot when it comes to playing, does it weigh on you, do you think about it or not?<\/p>\n

-It doesn\u2019t weigh on me, if it can open some door for me, giving me an invitation or something like that. But I have no pressure. What my father did was incredible, and I would almost say unrepeatable\u2026 Man, someone will do it someday, but his career is something very difficult to match, and I\u2019m a long way away. <\/p>\n

In addition, he had a very different game from the rest.<\/p>\n

My last name puts absolutely no pressure on me, I know who he was, who I am, and I just try to enjoy and make a living with what I like.<\/p>\n

-What advice did he give you for golf and for life?<\/p>\n

-For golf, many. I keep his insistence that you have to work hard, that talent alone is not enough. That you always have to make a lot of effort, more than the next person, and that within a refined technique you have to try to play very naturally. <\/p>\n

For life, the most important thing he instilled in me is to always be an honest person.<\/p>\n

-What did you admire most about your father? Forgive me for asking you about him, but\u2026<\/p>\n

-No, no (he interrupts me), it doesn\u2019t bother me at all. On the contrary, I like talking about him. What did you admire most about him? Well, maybe the fact that he came from nothing to be the best player in the world. It is something impressive. I wasn\u2019t lucky enough to see him because I wasn\u2019t even born in his prime, and in the 90s my father wasn\u2019t in his best shape, even though he was still playing well. <\/p>\n

I was not lucky enough to have seen him win a tournament, although in video I have: I have seen them all and many times.<\/p>\n

I also admired him a lot during his illness for his fortitude, strength and the way he fought against the disease. He was always a fighter, and I try to follow his example of work and capacity for sacrifice\u2026. <\/p>\n

-You were telling me before that you like soccer very much, that you are a big Bar\u00c7a fan\u2026.<\/p>\n

-Yes, although less and less\u2026 I\u2019m taking it off (ironically). I\u2019ve been very much a Bar\u00e7a fan and a soccer fan, but, as I\u2019ve told a friend, I\u2019ve seen my team win six titles in one year\u2026 the Spanish national team two European Championships and a World Cup\u2026. I have seen it all. I still like soccer, but I\u2019m not such a fanatic anymore. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI KNOW THAT THIS IS DIFFICULT, LONG AND THAT WE HAVE TO KEEP WORKING.\u201d When you see him coming, his walk, his gestures, his way of being in the field remind you of his father. Already in the short distance, that impression increases because his tone of voice is very similar, even his turns and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}