Josele Ballester announced himself on the world stage today by winning the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, in just his 10th start in the professional game.
An accomplished final round six-under-par 65 saw the Spaniard record a fine three-shot victory over last year’s joint runner-up Caleb Surratt from the United States, who shot a 69 – here at Riyadh Golf Club.
South African Dean Burmester, who beat Ballester in extra-time at LIV Golf Chicago in August, returned a 71 to claim third, while England’s Richard Bland fired a 68 to settle for fourth.
American Anthony Kim recorded far and away his best result since returning to the game after a 12-year break. He signed off with a 70 to tie for fifth.
Ballester, the winner of the US Amateur last year who joined Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC team mid-way through this season, started the day one behind third-round leaders Surratt and Burmester.
However, by the turn he was one ahead of both players, whom he was paired with, following three birdies and no dropped shots.
He continued in the same vein on the next nine making three more birdies, the final one on the 16th, to cruise home unchallenged in just his second event on the Asian Tour and The International Series.
“First of all, thank you so much. I'm super happy,” said Ballester, aged 22.
“It's been everything, right? Like at the end of the day, being a young boy dreaming about this moment, winning your first professional career. This is why I worked so hard every day. It's been really cool, to finally get this done. It's going to make me keep working even harder to accomplish all the things I have.
“But right now I'm really happy and thankful for all the people that have been there supporting me.
“It's been great these past few months. It's been a lot of learning. When I joined LIV, I was not playing great, and it was a learning process. I had to become better. It's been really cool to see that in this brief time I've gotten so much better and that I can compete at the highest level with the best players in the world.”
Surratt was also chasing his first win. It is the third time he has finished runner-up on The International Series – including his play-off defeat to Joaquin Niemann from Chile here last year.
He got off to a poor start, dropping shots on the first two holes, but fought back with three birdies on the front side. Two birdies and a dropped shot on the second half saw him just fall short once more.
“Yeah, it's hard,” said the 21-year-old, who plays for Legion XIII on LIV Golf.
“I finished runner-up at this event last year. So, it's tough. I feel like I'm overdue on my first win. I definitely had that in my mind today. Just getting off to a bad start really hurt me. Josele was beating me by four shots today through three holes. He's an amazing player, props to him. I'm sure we'll have many, many good battles.”
In what was the final event of the season on The International Series, Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent wrapped up The International Series Rankings.
It’s the second time he has won the Rankings, having claimed the inaugural edition in 2022, and the result means he will make a popular return to the LIV Golf League next year.
He will be joined on the franchise by Japan’s Yosuke Asaji who held on to second place despite missing the cut this week. Filipino Miguel Tabuena came agonisingly close to dislodging Asaji after finishing in a tie for 11th, following a 69 – just 25.25 points behind the Japanese golfer, in third place.
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of a set of elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings Winner & Runner-Up promotion to the LIV Golf League.
