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Some people know their professional calling when they're in college. Some figure it out much later. Mike Ballo knew much earlier. "I always said I wanted to be a professional golfer since I was 5 years old,'' Ballo says. "I actually got good enough to try to do it."
He has a few amateur hurdles to clear in the next two months. The 22-year-old graduate of St. John's then plans to head to Florida to compete in the 12-event Hooters Winter Series. It will be the start of a professional career that he hopes will land him on the PGA Tour.
"I'm going to give it a go,'' Ballo says. "As long as I can afford it, I'm going to try. I have no doubt in my mind if I tighten up a few things, I can play at the highest levels."
His parents, golf professionals Mike Sr. and Paige, have warned him about the challenges. "People think it's glamorous. It's not. You have to grind it out," Ballo says.
Despite a college career in which Ballo says he "underachieved,'' he played well for a second straight summer. He finished third in the Northeast Amateur and for second straight year won the Ike, the Metropolitan Golf Association's stroke play championship. Ballo will represent Connecticut on a three-member team in the USGA Men's State Team Championship beginning Tuesday at Mayacama Golf Club in Santa Rosa, Calif. He's locked in a race for Met Section Player of the Year honors with Evan Beirne, his college roommate.
Ballo, who plays out of Woodway, has worked with local pros Stuart Waack of Silvermine, Michael Crawford of Woodway and Colin Amaral of Metropolis as he fine-tunes his game. "The hardest part will be the golf,'' he says. "I don't think you understand what it's like to play for money until you actually do it."
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