Ballard, Bataille Cruise to 56th Mixed Pinehurst Championship
WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. – Maura Ballard and Jason Bataille turned in a phenomenal 7-under par 64 on Tuesday to capture the 56th Mixed Pinehurst Championship at Stanton Ridge Golf & Country Club. Ballard, of Branchburg and Bataille, of Bridgewater bested the field by six strokes en route to their first victory as a team.
Despite two bogeys, the duo carded five birdies and two eagles.
“I think we both played pretty well, hit a lot of greens and made some putts. We eagled two par 5s, so that was a big help.” said Ballard.
“We had a stretch in our first eight holes where we went birdie, birdie, eagle. So that helped.” Bataille added, “We also played with another team who had won before and they were both tremendous players, which I think that helped us.”
Ballard and Bataille have known each other for a long time prior to this event. Ballard was the long-time head coach for Rutgers University men's team as well as its women's golf team. Bataille was a player on her team. In all, Ballard and Bataille have known each other for over two decades.
"We’ve known each other since the late 90s, I think that's when I started recruiting him. Now we're both at the same golf club, Raritan Valley Country Club," explained Ballard.
The duo didn’t need anyone to carry the load, as they both performed well throughout the whole day.
“There was one or two holes where one of us was out of it, then the other one had a good shot to keep us in it. But we had a lot of opportunities where on the par 3s, we both could putt for birdie. We both played well enough that it was pretty low pressure.” Bataille added.
In the net division, Don Davidson and his daughter, Darcy Pillai took home the glassware, carding an 8-under par 63.
“Darcy hit the ball really well. I had a lot of second shots in the green that were 120 yards or so, so a comfortable range. We played well on that. It was a very good team approach,” said Davidson.
"It makes it fun," Pillai said of competing with her dad. "I had my partner and my caddie all in the same person. I just got to go out and enjoy playing golf and he got to tell me, move to the left, move to the right. So it was actually really fun.”
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