José Luis Ballester is on a fast track to getting banned from The Masters.
The Spanish amateur and reigning U.S. Open Champion is playing his first Masters of his career and is off to a rocky start. Not rocky in the sense that he’s playing horribly in the first round of four, being paired with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on the course today. But rocky because his Masters’ etiquette is well… not up to par.
Ballester got a rough start this morning when golf fans admitted they were not fans of the former Arizona State student’s upside-down hat. The trend of letters being upside-down on hats right now is huge.
The 21-year-old decided to sport a “Sun Devils” design, tipping his hat to his alma mater. However, golf snobs did not like this fashion choice. Given that The Masters is a very prestigious event, golf fans everywhere began ripping into José Luis Ballester for “not respecting” the tournament that he’s playing in.
Not a great start…
While on course, Ballester took a leak at the 13th hole. However, he did not find a restroom or take a break to ask event staff and officials what he should do. He took matters into his own hands and took a leak in Rae’s Creek at the 13th hole.
“I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the tee box.”
He confessed to reporters after today’s round.
“I’m like, I really need to pee. I didn’t really know where to go, and since JT had an issue on the green, I’m like, I’m just going to sneak here in the river, and probably people would not see me that much.”
But his plan backfired when people from the 14th grandstand could see him and began cheering for him.
“And then they clapped for me. Probably one of the claps that I really got today real loud, so that was kind of funny.”
Given that only a handful of amateurs are asked to play in The Masters each year, you’d think Ballester would be on his best behavior. However, when asked if he thought officials might give him blowback for choosing to relieve himself in public, he said he wasn’t worried about it.
“They saw me. It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again.’’
While I don’t think any other player at The Masters would ever do this, I respect that he’s standing by his choice. However, Augusta National is not thrilled to hear Ballester confirm that he took a leak in the creek.
Wow. Augusta National is NOT happy with Josele Ballester urinating in Rae’s Creek.
He is now being forced to play with Cantlay and Harman on Friday. Ouch.
“It’s equivalent of taking a piss on the Holy Water at Church.” – Fred Ridley pic.twitter.com/70260QUS27
— Tour Golf (@PGATUOR) April 10, 2025
