The usual rigors of turning professional and traveling extensively for the first time have not affected Laura Gonzalez Escallon. She is a seasoned pro when it comes to traversing the globe.
The Epson Tour rookie was born in 1990 in Bogota, Colombia, to Mauricio Gonzalez, a Colombian, and Catalina Escallon, a Belgian. By age 10, the family, which included two sisters, moved back to Belgium at the mother’s behest. As Laura learned golf and became a top-ranked amateur in La Hulpe, Belgium, American colleges came calling. Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind., won out, mainly because it had a winter season.
“I’ve seen and been through so many different cultures that it has been easy for me to adapt and understand other cultures,” said Escallon, who speaks four languages – English, French, Spanish and Dutch. “That helps so much when I’m traveling. I am not very picky wherever I go. I like traveling – seeing how people act. I want to go everywhere. Some people have difficulty resting when they fly. I fall asleep in planes immediately.”
Escallon favors Vienna, Austria and her home country of Belgium as her top destinations. She practices out of the same club in Belgium as long-hitting PGA Tour member Nicolas Colsaerts. She has spent time in Colombia in the winter when she wants to escape and practice golf. But winter is also an attraction, since she chose Purdue because the winter “reminded me of home, plus it gave me a couple months of cold weather to work on my studies.”
This week, at the Epson Classic in Charlotte, N.C., she hopes to try North Carolina-style barbecue. However, she prefers the mussels and fries – “not French fries, because Belgium made the original fries,” she said – of back home in Belgium.
It’s all in a whirlwind lifestyle for the 23-year-old, who is still gauging the proper amount of rest needed and the routine of tournament preparation on the Epson Tour.
Golf became a career choice when she had success at Purdue under coach Devon Brouse, who guides the men’s and women’s programs and coached stars such as Davis Love III, John Inman and Mark Wilson at North Carolina and Christel Boeljon and Maude-Aimee LeBlanc at Purdue. Escallon was the 2012 Big Ten Player of the Year, a perennial All-Big Ten and All-America choice and earned a degree in Math with a minor in Organizational Leadership.
Her first season on the Epson Tour has been highlighted by three top-10 finishes, including a tie for fourth last week at the Mission Charity Classic in Asheville, N.C. Escallon said she is pleased with her consistency driving the ball and chipping but needs to work on her iron game “to get the ball closer to the hole.” Still, she ranks fourth in birdies this season, with 73, and is 13th on the money list with $14,449, on the cusp of the top 10 which earns a LPGA card for 2015.
That could lead to a new comfort level, traveling abroad on the LPGA.
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