Never before had a Spanish golfer won the US Amateur, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world. Sergio Garcia, semifinalist in 1998, established the best precedent.
José Luis Ballester has not missed the great opportunity he had made for himself this week at Hazeltime National GC (Minnesota) and has made history by becoming the first Spanish player to win the US Amateur, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world with legends such as Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson in their trophy cabinets.
On the day of his 21st birthday, the golfer of the National Teams has beaten in the final, held at 36 holes with a large audience, the American Noah Kent, who was not able to find the antidote to overcome Josele, as he is known in our country since he began to show his talent in those Spanish Children’s Championships.
The final has had a Spanish color since early in the morning in Chaska: Ballester dominated by 3 up to hole 4 after signing two birdies at the start. He closed those first 18 with a 4 up that forced the local player to be aggressive to continue to feed his dream.
Noah Kent raised his level of golf, a prerequisite to stay alive. Thus, he managed to win holes like the twenty-fifth, a par 5 in which the Spaniard signed a good birdie countered by the eagle of his rival. Despite his efforts, Ballester put the 4 up on the board again, adding to his cause the 28th and 29th holes.
From there, Kent went for the rag and found a prize: he won the 31st, 32nd and 34th, in all cases with a bogey by Ballester. In this way, the Spaniard went to the last hole with a minimal advantage. With a textbook golf, fairway and two putts, José Luis Ballester won the hole and certified what is a milestone for our sport: the first victory in a tournament that was born in 1895 and, since then, has been building an extraordinary history.
This enormous success of José Luis Ballester carries with it two prizes of enormous value: two invitations -if he keeps his amateur status- to play the Masters at Augusta and the US Open in 2025.
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The road from 32nd place to the grand final
José Luis Ballester finished in 32nd place, with scores of 68 and 73 for a total of 141 strokes, in the preliminary qualifying round. He then successively beat the American Benjamin James by a tighter 2/1 in the 1/32nd final; the German Tiger Christensen by 3/1 in the 1/16th final; the American Christian Brand by 2/1 in the round of 16; the American Bobby Massa by 3/1 in the quarterfinals and the Spanish Luis Masaveu by 3/2 in the semifinals.
It should be remembered that more than 5,000 golfers applied for a place in this US Amateur, but only 311 got it. And among them, José Luis Ballester has been the best.
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The brilliant track record of José Luis Ballester
The sports curriculum of José Luis Ballester accumulates very outstanding triumphs that began when he won, in 2013, the Benjamín Spanish Championship. Subsequently he was the best, among other relevant tournaments, in the 2015 Spanish Alevín Championship; the 2016 and 2017 Spanish Infantil Championship; Spanish U16 Championship 2019; Copa S. M. El Rey 2020; European Individual Absolute Championship 2023; and gold medals in the European Absolute Team Championships 2022 and 2023.
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