The week was already good no matter what happened this Sunday in the final round of the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld. However, Josele Ballester wanted more. Making the cut was already a success, but the 21-year-old from Castellón wanted to go a step further, to prove something more to himself, to surpass another benchmark. And he certainly did. He leaves Vidanta Vallarta recording the best round of the day, 65 strokes, climbing almost 30 places in the standings and breaking into the top 20 of the tournament. A golden finish.
From very early on, it seemed like this Sunday was going to be a good day. Specifically from his first hole. He started on the 10th, pulling off a sensational birdie on one of the toughest holes on the course after holing an approach from outside. Spectacular. “It was a good start, it’s not an easy hole (second most difficult) and holing it from outside gave me confidence, I saw it could be a good day,” he explained with a smile after finishing his round. He set out ready for anything and finally seemed to have his moment.
The other key moment of the round, the leap in quality, came on the 6th hole. He had just made a bogey on the 4th, after hitting a bad shot, the only one, along with the tee shot on the 2nd, that he really regretted from the entire round. He managed to put out the fire very quickly, with a birdie on the 5th, hitting a great iron from the tee on this par 3 to just over four metres from the flag. However, the crucial moment was the eagle on the 6th. “I hit a very good drive, very long and left myself a 5-iron for the second. I was really aiming for the right side of the green, but I pulled it and left it very close, again just over four metres and holed it,” he notes sincerely.
Ballester finished with a very good birdie chance on the 7th that slipped away and two excellent pars, without much suffering, on the tough 8th and 9th holes. It is the best result of the day in Mexico tied with Isaiah Salinda, Joel Dahmen, and Danny Walker. His mark is left there. “I’m very happy. Once the first goal of making the cut was achieved, I wanted a bit more. I knew I could have a couple of good rounds over the weekend. It didn’t quite happen yesterday, but I’m happy to have achieved it today. I’m especially pleased with how I’ve managed this fourth round. I didn’t quite feel comfortable over the ball and yet I got a good result. That’s what it’s about,” he confesses as a summary. He said on Wednesday that it was one of the differences between amateur and professional golf, the ability to score without having your best golf with you, and he did that today. Relief and satisfaction.
This result will allow Josele to add a good number of points in the world amateur ranking and, above all, in the PGA Tour University ranking. “That’s the goal from here to the end of the course. To add all the points I can in the opportunities that arise, whether they are university or professional tournaments,” he points out. Well, in principle, pending official confirmation when the different rankings are updated, Josele is going to remain in fourth place in the world ranking (his best position ever), but breathing down the neck of the third and will make a qualitative leap in the University ranking. He will climb one position and place second, breathing down the neck of the first-placed, David Ford. Remember that the first in this ranking when the Nationals end will receive the full PGA Tour card.
Finally, Josele is already heading into the final stretch to reach Augusta in April. His most immediate schedule is a university tournament in Los Cabos, Mexico, next week and a new visit to Augusta. He will attend during the spring university break to play for two days, accompanied by his caddie Javier Erviti to take notes and start preparing for the tournament. The next step will be to play Thursday and Friday in Augusta alongside Scotti Scheffler, the defending champion, as is the tradition for the winners of the US Amateur. “We’ve crossed paths a few times, but I don’t think he remembers me. It will undoubtedly be very special to play with him the first two days. You don’t always get the chance to go from playing a week at university to playing with Scheffler the next. I’m very grateful to have these opportunities,” he admits.
