2nd year Gateway Tour member, Matt Ballard, from Burleigh Heights, Queensland, Australia, shot rounds of 69/65/64/64-262 (25-under par) this week at Desert Mountain – Chiricahua and Tonto Verde – Peaks to utterly destroy the Desert Summer Series field in the 11th Summer Series event of the season. His first Gateway Tour title comes via an 8 shot cushion over Dustin White (66/67/68/69-270) with two closing rounds of 8-under par, 64, on Desert Mountain’s challenging Chiricahua layout.

“I learned a lot from last week after I let it slip in the last round,” said Ballard, who put himself in contention last week at Whirlwind, but closed with a final round, 2-over par, 74 (69/66/66/74-275) to finish in a tie for 27th. “I just kept doing the same things I was doing for the majority of last week, but I felt after I got into contention this week again, I was able to make better and smarter decisions because of my learning from last week’s mistakes…besides that, I would have to say the putter completely saved me this week, and now having 6 weeks to get used to the heat, didn’t hurt either.”

As a full-time member of the Australian Tour, Ballard split a half of a Summer Series season last year, and did the same again this year, buying into last week’s ‘good learning experience’ as an extra event, apart from his split season. Through 3 rounds at Desert Mountain – Chiricahua, he stood 3 shots ahead of Dustin White, ready for any and all challengers in the final round.

“I knew (White) was going to come at me today,” said Ballard of his final round expectations. “I played with him yesterday and I knew he was hitting it good, and to be honest, I never really thought I had it won until I made birdie on the (par 5) 17th, even though I had a big lead…you get to thinking, there’s no reason (White) couldn’t eagle that hole, and if I would happen to hit an errant shot and make double-bogey, then the lead’s down to 1 or 2 shots…I know everyone seems to say it, but I was really trying to take it one shot at a time all day, and I was also trying to concentrate on my breathing a lot…that seemed to help me get back to a good mind-frame a lot throughout the day.”

Ballard led the field in birdies for the week by 6, making 31, while only having 6 bogeys on two golf courses that penalize the slightest of errant shots. His first Gateway Tour title, worth $19,574, will get Ballard into The Gateway Tour Championship, October 7-13, at the Legacy G.C., in Norwalk, IA, and will also tempt him to stay over here for PGA Tour Qualifying.

“I’m not really sure what I’ll do for the rest of the year,” noted Ballard. “I’ll have to make a decision if I’ll play the last few Australian Tour events or come over to Q-school. Winning this week, which will get me into the Tour Championship however, might help make my decision, since I’ll come back over to play in that, so I’ll already be here in near PGA Tour Qualifying time.”

Whichever direction he sways, he’s pleased with his decision to play on The Gateway Tour the past two summers.

“It’s fantastic,” noted Ballard of The Gateway Tour. “The boys over here know how to go low, there’s no doubt. Back home you can get away with shooting even-par to make cuts, but out here, you know guys are going to come at you from everywhere…hopefully I can take that low scoring mindset back home to help me in the future.”

This week’s event at Desert Mountain – Chiricahua & Tonto Verde – Peaks marks the 11th Summer Series event of 12, and the Desert Summer Series will resume for its finale next week, September 4-7, at Raven @ Verrado & Wildfire – Faldo. Stay tuned for results…

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By The Gateway Tour Website