La última ronda de Josele Ballester (-7) in the LIV Golf in Andalusia held a month ago at Valderrama was the turning point the golfer from Castellón needed after the always challenging transition to professionalism to join the Saudi tour. From there, his game began to flow as it did during his amateur days. And this Saturday in Chicago he finally found the situation he had been seeking.
The golfer from Castellón showcased the best of his game to create a great opportunity to open his victory tally. With his tremendous drive from the tee, enormous precision with the irons, and more successes than errors with the putter, the Spaniard signed a sensational scorecard of 66 strokes, placing him in second position on the leaderboard, two strokes behind the leader, South African Dean Burmester (-9).
406-YARDS‼️
Josele Ballester absolutely rips it down 14 to claim an eagle and now leads by 2 (-8) 🔥
🇺🇸 Watch on @FS1
📲 Stream on the LIV Golf App#LIVGolfChicago @fireballsgc_ pic.twitter.com/MQwy9jsxJh— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) August 9, 2025
Playing like this Saturday, Josele will be in a position tomorrow to lift his first trophy in LIV Golf in his fifth tournament on the circuit. However, besides facing the leader, he will have to contend with names like Bryson DeChambeau (-6), Carlos Ortiz (-5), Paul Casey (-5), and, above all, Jon Rahm (-7), with whom he shares second place on the leaderboard with just 18 holes to go.
The voracity of the champion from Barrika, who is defending the title he won just under a year ago at this same venue, is the main obstacle for Josele. Because the Basque golfer, in addition to the tournament victory, is playing for the title in the overall circuit standings. Chilean Joaquín Niemann (+2) is struggling and, outside the points zone, could lose the top spot with just one tournament left if Jon wins tomorrow.
🦅 @JonRahmOfficial puts it to 12ft to setup eagle
He’s ramping up pressure on Championship leader, Joaquin Niemann#LIVGolfChicago pic.twitter.com/tajYWUrvW3
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) August 9, 2025
Josele, who started his round on the tee of hole 3, was four under par by the halfway point of his round. And to the bogey he made on the 13th, he responded brilliantly with an eagle on the 14th and another birdie on the 15th. A bogey on the 18th prevented him from finishing the day second alone, but his result was one of the three best of the day in the tournament and will allow him to play in the leading group on Sunday in the final round.
Jon, for his part, saved the best for last. He began the day with a bogey on the par-four 2nd hole, missing the fairway. He missed some good birdie opportunities on his first nine holes. And he started the second half of his round with another bogey. But then came the response: an eagle and three consecutive birdies between the 12th and 15th, and another birdie on the 18th for a round of 67 with which to dream of seizing the lead in the order of merit.
Sergio García (-2) and Dustin Johnson (-2), who started Saturday sharing the top spot on the leaderboard, mutually caught each other’s errors and ended up falling out of the top 10, practically losing all their chances of competing for the victory. David Puig (-1), with two under par, managed to put his score in the red and will fight for points, while in the team competition, it’s all to play for with the Crushers (-10), Fireballs (-10), and Stinger (-10) sharing the lead.
