"I'm confident" - Josele Ballester gets candid about his 190+ drives off tee at LIV Chicago

Josele Ballester opened up about his impressive number of drives off the tee at LIV Golf Chicago. Ballester is playing with other top-tier players like Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia at the Bolingbrook Golf Club this week. The golfer is representing Fireballs GC.

After Saturday's second round, the highly rated Spanish golfer was asked to talk about how his driver served as a weapon to him, especially in the last two LIV Golf events. In response, Ballester said (via ASAP Sports):

“It kind of started in Valderrama honestly, I wasn't hitting it very great and we had that windy first day and I had to start keeping the ball low to put the ball in position. It kind of switched the mindset of how I'm hitting drivers. I have the length so I don't really worry about the distance that much, and I just started hitting like this mid-flight fade. My idea is almost like a compression like I would hit my irons, that same idea with the driver, and the ball is just starting a little left and curving to the right pretty much every single time.”

Josele Ballester continued, “It's funny because I've never been a guy that misses left, but I've been afraid of the left miss, and now I'm confident that I can aim left and the ball will curve where it should. Yeah, I mean, when I'm good off the tee, as a good friend of mine said once, I'm dangerous, so hopefully I can keep putting it in position.”

Ballester is firmly in contention at LIV Golf Chicago, with an overall score of 7-under after the first two rounds. He shot 69 with five birdies in total on Friday. In the second round, he made 66 with four birdies on the front nine and one birdie along with an eagle on the last nine. The third and final round will take place on Sunday August 10.

How has Josele Ballester performed in 2025?

Josele Ballester had only one top 20 finish on the PGA Tour in 2025 at the Mexico Championship, where he finished at T17 with 12 under in total.

Apart from this, Ballester has five missed cutlines, including the Acciona Open de España, the WM Phoenix Open, the Mexico Championship, the Masters Tournament, the US Open, and the BMW International Open. Here's a list of Ballester’s 2025 tournaments so far across various tours.

Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid: Missed cutline, 4 -over
WM Phoenix Open at the Stadium Course: Missed cut, 4-over
Mexico Championship at Vidanta Vallarta: T17, 12-under
Masters Tournament at the Augusta National: Missed cut, 10 over
The US Open at the Oakmont Country Club: Missed cut, 12-over
BMW International Open at the Golfclub München Eichenried: Missed cut, 1-under

Josele Ballester's results since joining LIV Golf

LIV Golf Virginia: T50, 7-ovee
LIV Golf Dallas: 48, 10-over
LIV Golf Andalucia: T23, 2-over
LIV Golf UK: T7, 9-under

About the author

Suchita Chakraborty is a senior golf writer at Sportskeeda. She did her post-graduation at St. Xavier's University. For a year now, she has developed a riveting inclination toward golf, with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy being her top-tier motivational figures to indulge in the sport. She even lives by the words of the Hall of Famer, "You can always become better", which impels her to excel every day. Her strong suit in golf is covering the LPGA Tour, especially the nooks and crannies of the international event, the Solheim Cup. As a pastime amusement, Suchita also engages herself in reading about golf controversies. Her favorite pick is ‘LIV and Let Die’ by Alan Shipnuck, which covers the PGA-LIV beef.

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Edited by Tushar Bahl