He’s inevitable – Ballester due to arrive soon as another Spanish golf star

The day before Josele Ballester shot the round of his life, a young fan stopped him on his way to the driving range at Maaden LIV Golf Virginia and asked what his lowest score was. Ballester told him 62.

One day later, the 22-year-old Spaniard walked off Trump National Washington, D.C., having carded a 12-under 60 — a course record, the lowest score to par in the 2026 LIV Golf season, and tied for the lowest score relative to par in LIV Golf history.

"It's pretty crazy how this game and life works sometimes," Ballester said with a smile afterward.

Not only was it the lowest round of his life – 10 birdies, one eagle and no bogeys –it’s also the first course record he has ever claimed anywhere. When it was confirmed mid-press conference that he had broken the course record outright, his reaction said everything. "I love it," he said. "Is it actually 60 is the course record here? Did I tie? Did I get it?" He had gotten it — and then some.

But for those who have been paying attention, the 60 was less of a surprise and more of an inevitability. Ballester has been building toward this for a year now — quietly, steadily and with the kind of determination that tends to produce great players.

Ballester made his LIV Golf debut last year at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club just about 12 months ago. He was raw, unproven and by his own admission, struggling. "The first few events were pretty bad," he recalled recently. "I look where I was one year ago, and I'm pretty happy with all the progress and how much better I've gotten."

That progress has been remarkable.

Even before his 2026 breakthrough, Ballester was quietly stacking results. In November 2025, while competing on the Asian Tour's PIF Saudi International alongside several of his LIV Golf peers, the Spaniard claimed the title by three strokes. The victory was an early signal that Ballester's best golf was coming, even if the broader golf world had not yet taken notice.

In the first half of his worldwide schedule, Ballester has a solo third at LIV Golf Mexico City and a T3 at the Singapore Open on the International Series before his solo fifth in Virginia.

Perhaps most telling about Ballester's mentality is how he processed the Mexico City result. A third-place finish would satisfy most players his age. It did not satisfy him.

"Right now, I'm a little disappointed," he said, citing his discomfort around the greens and his execution on the final three holes. "There's definitely things that I need to improve in order to win these tournaments." He caught himself, acknowledged the bigger picture — he had started the opening round 3 over on the front nine — and conceded it was "not too bad." But the hunger was evident. He was already looking ahead.

"My game is pretty good," he said, "and if I can find myself a little more comfortable around the greens when I'm in contention, I'll be pretty comfortable that I can close it out."

Then came the 60 in Virginia, putting the rest of the league and professional golf world on notice.

The development has not happened by accident. When Ballester joined LIV Golf, he made a calculated bet — that immersing himself in a competitive environment filled with world-class players would accelerate his growth faster than any other path available to him. That risk has paid off.

"The fact that made me come here was just being surrounded by better players than what I was at the moment," he said. "I learned from some of the best, and I knew that was going to bring my best golf quicker."

No one has played a more meaningful role in that development than his Fireballs GC captain, Sergio Garcia. The connection between the two runs deeper than most captain-player relationships on LIV Golf. Ballester and Garcia are from the same town in Spain. Ballester spent roughly a decade being coached by Garcia's father. They have known each other for most of Ballester's life, and Garcia has watched his game grow up close in a way few others have.

"We come from the same town in Spain and obviously he's played at my home course and been coached by my dad for about 10 years now," Garcia said. "So, we've known each other for a long time, and I've always seen the qualities that he brings to the golf course, and I'm very proud to see how well he's doing."

When asked whether he would be surprised to see Ballester become a top player in the world one day, Garcia did not hesitate. "No, not at all," he said.

Garcia sees his mentorship of Ballester — along with fellow Fireballs GC players David Puig and Luis Masaveu — as part of a broader responsibility to Spanish golf, one that mirrors the guidance he himself received from the generation that came before him, particularly the legendary Seve Ballesteros and another major winner, José María Olazabal.

"It's something that Seve and José María did for me when I came out," Garcia said. "It is nice to be able to do that and see youngsters coming out of your country and playing the game of golf great and showing what they can do. It's something that is very satisfying, and I'm definitely enjoying it a lot."

The mentorship has clearly had an impact. Ballester's game is built on elite ball-striking and prodigious length off the tee. But what has evolved over the past year is the mental side of the game, the ability to manage a round, handle pressure and trust his instincts when it counts. The 60 in Virginia was a demonstration of all of it.

He started hot, made an eagle to go 8-under through 10 holes, navigated a series of demanding finishing holes and refused to let the magnitude of the moment derail him. "Towards the end when I felt the adrenaline and the pressure a little more, I still executed and made some good shots and some good putts," Ballester said. "So pretty happy with how I dealt with the entire round and with the final holes."

Ballester acknowledged that the Virginia round was the first time all season that every part of his game clicked at once, calling it “the first day in which everything just seemed to go easy, smooth, and feel super comfortable. I know that this round doesn't happen very often, but hopefully I can start feeling and entering the flow zone a little more often."

That is a frightening thought for the rest of the LIV Golf roster. A player of Ballester's ability, still operating below his ceiling and setting course records at major championship caliber venues. He turns 23 in August.

"Yeah, 100%," Ballester said when asked whether he felt like he was starting to show the world what kind of player he can be.

It’s only a matter of time now before he’s stacking trophies on LIV Golf and beyond.