The advice Sergio Garcia gave to the last US amateur champion

Earlier this month, Jose Luis Ballester became The first Spaniard to win the US Amateur. Although he was not the first Spaniard to play in front of an outdoor crowd at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn.

Sergio Garcia played the villain during the 2016 Ryder Cup, especially when he faced fan favorite Phil Mickelson in Sunday’s singles, an epic match that they eventually halved.

Ballester didn’t get to do most of the things Garcia got to do while at Hazeltine — the Ryder Cup and the U.S. Amateur are different animals — but he was playing in front of a mostly American crowd that included dozens of his friends and family. Noah Kentthe other match finalist who went to college just a few hours south at the University of Iowa.

Fortunately, Ballester had Garcia on his side to help.

Ballester, an Arizona senior, is coached by Garcia’s father, Victor, and has known the Garcia family for the past seven or eight years. He has played with Sergio before and has grown closer to him over the last few. They also kept in touch throughout America.

“It was really nice to have him really follow along all week and get his messages after every match,” Ballester said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar Podcast. “He called me the night before (the final) and gave me advice, especially how to deal with the crowd. He told me the best way to shut him up is to play your golf.”

Ballester never trailed in the 36-hole final. He made two of the first four and was 3 under after four holes, and he was 4 up after the first 18. He was still 4 under with six to play, but Kent fought back and Ballester split a couple of holes with bogeys.

On the 36th hole, Kent needed to win to force extra holes, but Ballester made two pars to win the hole and get match 2 up.

“When you come to this final and these kinds of opportunities,” Ballester said after his victory, “you want to write your name in history.”

You can watch the full interview with Ballester below.

Josh Berhow

Editor of Golf.com

As managing editor of GOLF.com, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the most widely read sports news and services websites. He spends most of his days writingediting, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two children. You can contact him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.