Jose Luis Ballester Barrio

Played at Royal Liverpool in 2023 as European amateur champion and returns now after coming through Final Qualifying at West Lancashire.

In between, Ballester won the 2024 US Amateur at Hazeltine on his 21st birthday when he overcame compatriot Luis Masaveu in the semi-finals and American Noah Kent on the last green of their 36-hole final. He even borrowed Masaveu’s shorts for that match so that he was dressed in the red and yellow of Spain.

He has been coached by Sergio Garcia’s father Victor and spoke with the former Masters champion on the eve of the final.

Ballester, who turned professional last year and won the PIF Saudi International after joining Garcia's Fireballs GC in the LIV Golf League, is from a sporting family. His mother won an Olympic gold medal in hockey and his father competed in swimming at three Olympic Games.

His European Amateur Championship victory in 2023 came by two strokes in Estonia after he had opened that week with a 10-under-par 62. He also won the 2020 Spanish Amateur crown and lost the final of the 2018 Boys' Amateur championship to England’s Conor Gough.