U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester extends his lead at Fighting Illini Invite

September 21, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Jose Luis Ballester (USGA Photo)

Due to inclement weather, the tournament played round two and some of round three on Saturday and will conclude Sunday

After the first two rounds and 16 holes of round three, 2024 U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester of Arizona State leads at the Olympia Fields Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Ill.

Ballester leads Benjamin Reuter of Georgia Tech by one shot at 10-under and will have to come out Sunday for two more holes in hopes of closing out the championship.

Due to the threat of inclement weather later in the weekend, Rounds two and three were played Saturday with tee times moved up 30 minutes to now begin at 7:30 a.m. CT. Round three will conclude Sunday morning, but only one group is left to finish.

ROUND ONE RECAP

After securing a win at the Super Bowl of amateur golf this summer, Jose Luis Ballester of Arizona State is picking up where he left off as the collegiate season kicks off.

Ballester and Benjamin Reuter of Georgia Tech both shot 6-under 64 to be tied for the lead at the Olympia Fields Fighting Illini Invitational at Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Ill.

Ballester recorded a bogey-free 6-under 64 with six birdies, while Reuter propelled up the leaderboard with back-to-back eagles as he made the turn on holes No. 1 and 2 since he started on hole No. 10. He also had four birdies and two bogeys.

Eight golfers are T3 at 2-under, including Luke Clanton of Florida State, who is currently No. 1 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings, and David Ford of North Carolina, who is ranked No. 6.

In the team competition, Arizona State shot a round of 7-under 273 to lead by six shots after round one. The Sun Devils are currently No. 2 in the Bushnell/Golfweek D1 coaches poll released Friday and won the season-opening at the Sahalee Player's Championship.

Georgia Tech, Florida, and North Carolina are all T2 at 1-under after team rounds of 279, and Stanford, Florida State, and Illinois are T5 at even par. Texas is in solo eighth place at 1-over. Northwestern is in solo ninth place at 3-over, and Oklahoma State is in solo tenth place at 4-over.

Results: Fighting Illini Invitational

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Jose Luis Ballester	, Spain	800	64-66-70=200
2	Benjamin Reuter	, Netherlands	500	64-70-68=202
T3	Christiaan Maas	, South Africa	400	69-68-66=203
T3	Daniel Svard	, Sweden	400	68-66-69=203
5	Ethan Fang	Plano, TX	400	68-66-71=205

View full results for Fighting Illini Invitational

About the Fighting Illini Invitational

U.S. Amateur champion Jose Luis Ballester extends his lead at Fighting Illini Invite

54-hole elite collegiate event hosted at Olympia Fields Country Club by the University of Illinois. Olympia Fields has hosted the 2015 U.S. Amateur. two U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, five Western Opens and a U.S. Senior Open.