Josele Ballester announced himself on the world stage today by winning the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, in just his 10^th start in the professional game.

An accomplished final round six-under-par 65 saw the Spaniard record a fine three-shot victory over last year’s joint runner-up Caleb Surratt from the United States, who shot a 69 – here at Riyadh Golf Club.

South African Dean Burmester, who beat Ballester in extra-time at LIV Golf Chicago in August, returned a 71 to claim third, while England’s Richard Bland fired a 68 to settle for fourth.

American Anthony Kim recorded far and away his best result since returning to the game after a 12-year break. He signed off with a 70 to tie for fifth.

In what was the final event of the season on The International Series, Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent wrapped up The International Series Rankings.

It’s the second time he has won the Rankings, having claimed the inaugural edition in 2022, and means he will make a popular return to the LIV Golf League next year.

Josele Ballester.

He will be joined on the franchise by Japan’s Yosuke Asaji who held on to second place despite missing the cut this week. Filipino Miguel Tabuena came agonisingly close to dislodging Asaji after finishing in a tie for 11th, following a 69 – just 25.25 behind points the Japanese golfer, in third place.

Ballester, the winner of the US Amateur last year who joined Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC team mid-way through this season, started the day one behind third-round leaders Surratt and Burmester.

However, by the turn he was one ahead of both players, whom he was paired with, following three birdies and no dropped shots.

He continued in the same vein on the next nine making three more birdies, the final one on the 16th, to cruise home unchallenged in just his second event on the Asian Tour and The International Series.

“First of all, thank you so much. I’m super happy,” said Ballester, aged 22.

“It’s been everything, right? Like at the end of the day, being a young boy dreaming about this moment, winning your first professional career. This is why I worked so hard every day. It’s been really cool, to finally get this done. It’s going to make me keep working even harder to accomplish all the things I have.

Caleb Surratt.

“But right now I’m really happy and thankful for all the people that have been there supporting me.

“It’s been great these past few months. It’s been a lot of learning. When I joined LIV, I was not playing great, and it was a learning process. I had to become better. It’s been really cool to see that in this brief time I’ve gotten so much better and that I can compete at the highest level with the best players in the world.”

Surratt was also chasing his first win. It is the third time he has finished runner-up on The International Series – including losing to Joaquin Niemann from Chile in a play-off last year.

“Yeah, it’s hard,” said the 21-year-old, who played for Legion XIII on LIV Golf.

“I finished runner-up at this event last year. So, it’s tough. I feel like I’m overdue on my first win. I definitely had that in my mind today. Just getting off to a bad start really hurt me. Josele was beating me by four shots today through three holes. He’s an amazing player, props to him. I’m sure we’ll have many, many good battles.”

He got off to a poor start, dropping shots on the first two holes, but fought back with three birdies on the front side. Two birdies and a dropped shot on the second half saw him just fall short once more.

Vincent started the day just five shots off the lead, comfortably ahead on the rankings. He shot a 75 today, to finish eight under to tie for 42nd place, not quite what he had hoped for but still good enough for him to top the rankings with 335.11 points. Asaji finished second on 285.3 points.

“I think it’s still settling in,” said Vincent, winner of this year’s International Series Morocco.

“Right now, all I want to do is go see my family. Yeah, we’ll head towards them tonight and can’t wait to see them.

Scott Vincent.

“I woke up at about 4:30, which was two hours before I was hoping to. Then you start playing all the different scenarios in your head, which was not what I was hoping for.

“Yeah, I kind of just — I wanted to come out here and just play freely and give it my best, but yeah, I was nervous. Obviously not knowing and not trying to look at leaderboards, you don’t know how much of a cushion you have. You don’t want to be the guy who’s ahead and loses, all those things.”

Tabuena needed a top-six finish to catch Asaji and got off to the perfect start by going out in three under to sit in the top four. However, he made bogey on the 12^th, and although he recovered with a birdie on the 15^th, a bogey on the next ended any hopes of him being the first golfer from the Philippines to play on the LIV Golf League.

Japan’s Kazuki Higa has kept the lead on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, after tying for 65^th. Vincent is second and Tabuena third, with two events remaining.

The Asian Tour heads to India next week for the Bharath Classic at Kensville Golf Resort in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The inaugural tournament will be played from November 27 to 20 and will be joint sanctioned with the newly formed Indian Golf Premier League.

Pictures by Ian Walton/Asian Tour.