Josele Ballester (-6) and Pablo Ereño (-5) bid farewell to the first phase of the Nationals with a great individual performance. However, the second Spanish victory in the history of this tournament will have to wait, and for now, Alejandro Cañizares (2003) remains the only member of the Armada to win the prestigious university tournament.
Despite not competing for the final victory, the two Spaniards have closed with two very prestigious top ten finishes that will also allow them to earn points in the final ranking of the PGA Tour University. It is worth remembering that this is the last university tournament for both players, and they are playing for their future playing rights. The last Spaniards to finish in the top ten of this tournament were Eugenio López Chacarra in 2022 (T2) and Jon Rahm in 2016 (T3). Since the NCAA Final introduced its format in 2009 (stroke play and match play combined), never before have two of our own finished among the top ten.
Josele finally finished fourth thanks to a superb performance in the fourth and final round of stroke play. He delivered the best card of the day with 68 strokes and finished five strokes behind the 2025 NCAA champion, Michael La Sasso.
The Spaniard started in Carlsbad with the intention of stepping on the accelerator from the beginning, scoring three birdies in the first six holes. From that moment, the round cooled off with four pars and a bogey, but the Castellón native hadn’t said his last word and achieved two key birdies on the 13th and 18th to finish tied for fourth with Jackson Koivun.
The Arizona State player also finished in first place in the team category, and the ‘Sun Devils’ now face the match play phase as one of the favourites for the team title. They will face Ole Miss University this Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals, precisely against the champion La Sasso’s team. A head-to-head match play duel where the lead already achieved no longer counts.
Pablo, on the other hand, signed his second consecutive card of 69 strokes on the Omni La Costa course. The result could have been even better, but two bogeys in the last third of the round prevented him from finishing higher. However, the late birdie on the 18th hole allowed him to finish sixth on his own, which could be important for the closing of the PGA Tour University ranking.
For Pablo, this last round marked his farewell to the university stage, as despite his good performance, UCLA did not make it past the third round cut. The Madrid native has bid farewell to his university stage with a great final year in which he also tasted his first victory on American soil and achieved seven other top ten finishes. His performance has allowed him to reach the current number 13 in the world amateur rankings.
