Who is José Luis Ballester? The Spanish amateur golfer making headlines for the wrong reasons at the Masters

The 21-year-old from Castellón, Spain is in his senior year at Arizona State University where other Spanish players have studied and played before: Jon Rahm, David Puig, Azahara Muñoz, Carlota Ciganda and Adri Arnaus. But after winning the 2024 US Amateur Championship at Hazeltine, Ballester’s first thought was about his parents, both Olympic athletes: “I remembered my parents, first my mother,” he said. “It’s hard to believe, I haven’t taken it all in. I’ll need a few days. Now, it’s time to enjoy the moment and share it with family and friends.”

The US Amateur title gives Ballester a chance to compete in 2025 at the Masters, US Open and Open Championship, “Augusta is a course I’ve dreamed of playing, to be able to play there in the future is incredible,” he told reporters back in August. “I’ll play with less fear, I was nervous at the Open (Championship in 2024). Little by little I’m getting used to people following me and having cameras around. I’ll be more prepared for next year.”

Tough Thursday at the Masters for Ballester

Ballester struggled during his first round at the Masters playing with Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler. The Spanish amateur finished at 4-over par on a tough Augusta National, but everyone is talking about him for other reasons.

The player from Arizona State had to make a quick decision on the course when nature called and he decided to “take relief” in Rae’s Creek:

That wasn’t the only thing that annoyed patrons and online golf fans: Many observers took offense to his hat. Yep, that’s right, fans didn’t like his hat that had “Sun Devils” written backwards and upside down.

Following in the footsteps of Seve, Oli, Sergio and Jon

Ballester is looking to make a name for himself at the majors in 2025. He told the Diario AS online sports site in August 2024 that he felt more mature and confident with his game. “A mental switch I made these past months is to play more aggressively, I’m a good player and it has been good to take some more risks,” he said. “I’m working on accepting what happens. That was my mentality this week and I can’t complain about how things went.”

On Tuesday before the Masters, Ballester played Augusta National with Jon Rahm, Sergio García and José María Olazabal. Not bad company to learn a few things about the course and the tournament, “Everyone says that one thing is playing the course with a professional and another thing is playing the course with a past champion,” he said. “So being surrounded by Green Jacket players, it will be pretty, pretty special and for sure I will gain a lot of knowledge.”

Jon Rahm only had good things to say about Ballester in his press conference on Tuesday. “With two parents that are Olympians, he’s got all the athletic genes that he needs to succeed in the game and a lot of talent,” Rahm said. “He’s a very, very good player. And I can’t stress this enough: he’s a wonderful man. He’s extremely kind, very empathetic, which is really interesting to see for a 20-year-old in college. Definitely somebody that’s really fun to be around. A very fun guy to play with.”

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Ballester’s mother, Sonia Barrio, won a gold medal on the Spanish field hockey team at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. His father was an Olympic swimmer for Spain.

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