No one knows what will happen in the future, but Josele Ballester should mark Friday, 21 February 2025 in red. The day of his first cut in the PGA Tour. We agree that the talented player from Castellón has not come to golf just to make cuts, but it is a first step. To reach the goal, whatever it may be for each person, you have to start by taking the first step and then the second, the third, the fourth… and so on until the end.
On this important day in Josele’s career, many good things happened and also some bad. As happens in any round of golf. Today, we believe, it’s time to focus on the good ones. It’s an anecdote, a fun little story. It doesn’t pretend to be more than that, although deep down it also contains a moral. We go to the second shot of the 12th hole of his second round in the Mexico Open at Vidanta World.
It’s a par 5 of 661 yards, about 600 metres, give or take. Josele draws a perfect drive on a fairway that bends slightly to the right. He effortlessly flies over a bunker that is cleverly placed in the centre of the fairway and swallows quite a few balls throughout the day. The situation is perfect, but there are still many metres to the green. He does the math with his caddie Javier Erviti, winner of the Open de España with Carlota Ciganda at the end of last year and also champion in the DP World Tour with Renato Paratore.
Erviti recites the report: it’s 260 metres to the front of the green and 286 to the flag. The wind is coming from the left, it’s not strong, but it will have some effect. It’s a shot with a bit of an uphill. In a straight line to the flag, there’s a tree located in the right rough that comes into play. Caddie-player chat. They quickly agree that they have two options: hit the mini driver over the tree, a straight shot directly to the green, or hit the driver from the ground with a fade (left to right effect), taking the ball to the left of the tree.
After a brief deliberation, they discard the first option. They are not convinced that the mini driver can clear the tree. It’s a risk. So, they commit to the second shot. A big drive from the closely mown grass. Josele’s shot is a delight. Simply perfect. A work of art. Anyone who has ever played golf knows how difficult it is to hit the driver from the ground, making solid and clean contact. Ballester hits a beautiful missile, to the left of the tree, opening up, letting the wind help, and it lands in the centre of the green. When they repair the pitch mark, they estimate it flew 275 metres. From the ground. Inhuman.
The shot was perfect, but obviously when it lands on the green, in a down-grain area, it shoots off and ends up at the back, in the semi-rough, just past. Again, they estimate it went about 300 metres in total. Yes, from the ground. It’s the shot of the day. He then embellishes it with a magnificent chip and makes an easy birdie. That shot deserved nothing less.
There’s no need to go on much more to be amazed. The moral of this little story, which is just one of the 69 shots Josele hit on Friday, is that the young Spaniard has those resources. He can do it. It’s not something many can say. Rather, very few have that ability. Mind you, he can do it and dares to do it in the second round of his second tournament in the PGA Tour fighting to make the cut. That’s the ability that not many have. He thinks about it, evaluates it, decides it, and executes it.
Josele goes out to play this Saturday the third round of the Mexico Open at 17:30 Spanish peninsular time, alongside Sam Ryder and Ben Martin from the 10th tee. It’s an hour and 17 minutes before the star group formed by Potgieter, Campbell, and Jaeger. The mission on this moving day can only be to try to climb the leaderboard and give himself a nice Sunday fighting for the top spots in the tournament.
