Josele Ballester is ready to bid farewell to his amateur life in grand style, both individually and with Arizona State University. The golfer from Castellón has delivered a very good first round in the NCAA Final, the Nationals. He carded a 70, two under par, and is in sixteenth place. He is just four strokes behind the solo leader, Thai golfer Phichaksn Maichon (-6), from Texas A&M University.
The NCAA Final is played over four rounds, so there is still plenty of room for manoeuvre. Ballester completed a very tidy round, with a solitary bogey over the 18 holes. He started with three birdies on holes 3, 10, and 11, and the only mistake came on the 15th. He is in the mix for everything on the North Course at Omni La Costa Resort, in Carlsbad, San Diego.
As for the other three Spaniards present at these Nationals, the news is quite mixed, although generally not very good. Pablo Ereño (+2) had a spectacular start to his round. The Madrid native from UCLA was four under par through 11 holes, high up on the leaderboard. However, the last few holes were challenging for him. He made a double bogey on the 12th, two more bogeys on the 14th and 17th, and another double bogey to finish on the 18th.
Meanwhile, Pablo Pérez Gracia (+3), from La Rioja and Troy University, shot 75, also with a poor finish to his round. He made two bogeys on the last two holes, which caused him to lose ground. Lastly, Jaime Montojo (+7), from Madrid and Texas A&M, did not have a good first day. The university coach has decided to replace him for the second round with Jacob Sosa.
In terms of the team standings, Arizona State has had a very good start, in fifth place, while Troy is in 12th position, Texas A&M is 23rd, and UCLA is 27th. After the third round, there is a first cut with the top 15. That should be everyone’s first goal. After the fourth day, a new cut will be made with the top eight.
