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Josele Ballester made a huge jump in the Official World Golf Ranking with his impressive performance at the 2025 PIF Saudi International. The Spanish golfer competed in the four-day event held at Riyadh Golf Club and registered a three-stroke win in the game. With that, he jumped from 1063 in the OWGR to 264, achieving his career-best ranking.
Ballester plays on LIV Golf, and since LIV events do not provide any ranking points, he struggles to improve his ranking. However, with his marvelous performance in the Asian Tour event, he has made it into the top 300 in the OWGR.
Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler is still leading the OWGR. This week on the PGA Tour, Sami Valimaki won the 2025 RSM Classic, and he also made a huge jump in the OWGR. He settled in 40th place in the standings, surpassing LIV golfer Jon Rahm in the world ranking.
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Josele Ballester was ranked 4550 ahead of his first event of the year. He played at the WM Phoenix Open but struggled to make the cut, but still jumped six spots in the ranking. He settled in the 4544 position. He was tied for T17 at the Mexico Open at Vidanta, which helped him jump within the top 1200 in the OWGR, and finally, after this week’s event, jumped into the top 300.
Josele Ballester opens up about his win at the PIF Saudi International
Josele Ballester started his campaign at the 2025 PIF Saudi International Open with an opening round of 66. He then carded the next round of 65, followed by the next two rounds of 66 and 65. In the post-round press conference, Ballester opened up about his win. He said (via ASAP Sports):
"Thanks for everyone having me here. It's been really insane the last hour. I've got to say this has been my first professional victory, not really knowing what comes after. We all see the pictures and stuff and the good golf, but all these cool moments, I'm really trying to enjoy them a lot.
"Yeah, as you said, it's been really good golf. I'm really happy with the way I played, the way I handled myself in the pressure moments. I was fortunate to get it done this time," he added.
It’s Ballester’s first professional win. Caleb Surrett settled in second place at the event, followed by Dean Burmester in third place. Richard Bland also played in the competition and settled in solo fourth place.
Earlier this year, Josele Ballester made his debut on LIV Golf. He played at the Virginia event, where he settled in the T50 position. He struggled in the first few events in the Saudi league but then settled for T7 at the UK event, T2 in Chicago, and 39th at Indianapolis.
