Valimaki, Ballester end season's in style
PGA Tour gets a flying Finn-ish; Young Spaniard will return to LIV a pro winner
Finland’s Sami Valimaki kisses his putter after breaking PGA Tour maiden (Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
A month ago, Finland’s Sami Valimaki was in danger of losing his full status on the PGA Tour. On Sunday, he became the first player from his country to win on the PGA Tour, and in the process locked up a spot in the first two signature events of 2026.
He also put himself in position to qualify for the Masters by climbing to No. 40 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Valimaki, 27, who has played in just six major championships, shot a final-round 66 which included a par from 18 feet on the final hole at Sea Island to win the RSM Classic by a shot over Max McGreevy.
A two-time winner on the DP World Tour who was runner-up two weeks ago in Mexico, Valikami now has a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and is assured of playing the first two $20 million signature events at Pebble Beach and Riviera by finishing at No. 51 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings.
“It has been a long road, of course,” Valimaki said. “I feel like it’s a really tough year even when I kind of played decent golf, and then to keep pushing and find some good grooves in the last few tournaments, it feels amazing.”
McGreevy already had his card locked up moved up to No. 60 to also qualify for a pair of signature events to start next year. His finish bumped Jordan Spieth, who did not play this fall, out of the top 60. Spieth is likely to gain entry to those events via alternate status.
The event was also the last opportunity to secure status among the top 100, which means fully exempt status for 2026. But no one from 95 to 100 starting the week fell out.
For those who finished 101 to 110 on the FedEx Fall list, they can take solace in the fact that they are likely to get into 20 or more regular events on the PGA Tour, and those from 111 to 125 will still get in the neighborhood of 15-18 starts.
Although the DP World Tour resumes official events this week in Australia, the PGA Tour is done until January, when it will start the season at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Scott Vincent, Jose Ballester and Yosuki Asaji earn International Series spoils (Jason Butler/Getty Images)
Ballester pips Augusta mishap with Saudi win
Josele Ballester made a name for himself for the wrong reasons earlier this year, drawing worldwide headlines when he decided it was a good idea — and then casually talked about it — to relieve himself in a tributary of Rae’s Creek during the first round of the Masters.
The Spanish golfer who starred at Arizona State and won the U.S. Amateur in 2024 in order to gain a spot in the Masters field, later apologized for the otherwise harmless escapade.
But it wasn’t until over the weekend that he did something professionally to distinguish himself on the course.
Ballester won the PIF Saudi International, the final event of the nine-tournament International Series that was loaded with LIV Golf players, where Ballester plays for the Fireballs.
“It’s been everything, right?” said the 22-year-old Ballester. “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.”
It was the young Spaniard’s first professional victory and it came at the biggest of the International Series events, a group of elevated $2 million tournaments on the Asian Tour that determined two spots for the leading players who will join LIV Golf in 2026.
Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe and Yosuki Asaji of Japan finished 1-2 in the season-long standings, earning the two spots on LIV in 2026.
“Obviously, very thankful,” said Vincent, who played for LIV in 2023 after topping the inaugural International Series in 2022 but was relegated out of the league. “It’s great that this has worked out for me.”
LIV Golf relegated six players this year after they finished outside of the top 48 in the league standings. Four of them will be replaced by the two International Series players and two from the Promotions event to be held in early January.
Last week, LIV announced that France’s Victor Perez, a three-time DP World Tour winner, had signed with the league to play for the Cleeks. And there was a report that England’s Laurie Canter, who played for LIV in 2022 and parts of 2023 and 2024 and had earned a PGA Tour card for next year via the DP World Tour standings, is considering heading back to LIV Golf.
Meanwhile, Ballester, who turned pro and joined LIV Golf this year midway through the season, claimed his first pro title by three strokes at the event played in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Eight strokes back and in a tie for fifth was Anthony Kim, who posted his best performance in any event since returning to professional golf last year after a 12-year absence. Kim was relegated from LIV but has the opportunity compete on the Asian Tour in 2026.