Continuing his dominant year of 2024, Josele Ballester is playing some of the best golf of his career and his success has rolled over into the new season for ASU.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!After being crowned the U.S. Amateur champion and helping ASU men’s golf win the Sahalee Players Championship on Sept. 8, the Spaniard Ballester finished No. 1 in the Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club this past weekend in Olympia Fields, Ill. He personally ended up in a tie for No. 2 in the Sun Devils’ first tournament win as a program in the Sahalee Players Championship.
He tied Alabama’s Davis Riley’s Fighting Illini Invitational record from 2017, shooting a 10-under 200 (64-66-70). Ballester also became just the second Sun Devil men’s golfer to win this particular event, with Niklas Lemke winning the inaugural tournament when it first began in 2006.
Winning this competition, Ballester became the 11th Sun Devil under coach Matt Thurmond to claim an individual title during a tournament Arizona State was in as a team. He joined Preston Summerhays, Wenyi Ding, James Leow, David Puig, Cameron Sisk, Mason Andersen, Alex del Rey, Chun An Yu, Jared du Toit and Ki Taek Lee who have also done so since Thurmond got the job in 2016.
As for the other Sun Devils, Peer Wernicke tied for No. 11 with a 2-under 208 (69-70-69), Connor Williams tied for No. 17 by going an even 210 (69-68-73) and Nick Prieto was 28th with 3-over 213 (71-72-70). Summerhays, who tied Ballester for second place at the Sahalee Players Championship with a 3-under 213, struggled and wound up in 44th place at the Fighting Illini Invitational with a 6-over 216 (72-73-71).
The overall champion of the event, Georgia Tech, edged out Arizona State by just one stroke, a 12-under 828 (279-277-272) over ASU’s 11-under 829 (273-276-280).
Fighting Illini Invitational Results
1. Georgia Tech: 12-under 828 (279-277-272)
2. Arizona State: 11-under 829 (273-279-280)
T3. Oklahoma State: 1-under 839 (284-277-278)
T3. North Carolina: 1-under 839 (279-277-283)
5. Texas: 3-over 843 (281-283-279)
T6. Stanford: 8-over 848 (280-285-283)
T6. Texas A&M: 8-over 848 (286-279-283)
8. Illinois: 9-over 849 (280-286-283)
T9. Florida: 10-over 850 (279-287-284)
T9. Texas Tech: 10-over 850 (287-286-277)
T9. Florida State: 10-over 850 (280-289-281)
12. Alabama: 16-over 856 (291-286-279)
13. Northwestern: 18-over 858 (283-285-290)
14. Baylor: 37-over 877 (295-289-293)
15. Michigan: 38-over 878 (300-290-288)
Penalties, special teams woes haunt ASU, drop first game in Big 12 30-22 to Texas Tech
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
