Golf

ASU’s Ballester, ARIZ’s Melgrati Named September Big 12 Golfers of the Month

Arizona State’s Josele Ballester (men’s) and Arizona’s Carolina Melgrati (women’s) earned Big 12 Golfer of the Month honors for September. It marks the first Big 12 monthly award for each golfer and for each of their respective programs.
 
Ballester won medalist honors at the Olympia Fields Country Club, firing a 10-under 200 at the four-time major championship host site. The 2024 U.S. Amateur Champion tied the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational individual event scoring record, previously set in 2017, becoming the seventh Big 12 player to win the event since its inception in 2006. The sport science and performance programming major helped the Sun Devils to a team title at the Sahalee Players Championship, as he carded a 3-under 213 to tie for second, one stroke off the lead. The senior from Castellon de la Plana, Spain was par-or-better in all six of his rounds, averaged 68.8 strokes per round, and was beat by only one golfer, by a single shot, in September.
 
Melgrati helped Arizona open the season with a team victory, as she captured a pair of top five individual finishes during the month. The Milan, Italy native finished second at the Folds of Honor Intercollegiate, posting a 4-under 212 at American Dunes Golf Club. The senior paced the Wildcats’ three-stroke victory in the debut event for head coach Giovana Maymon, besting a pair of teams ranked in Golfweek's preseason top 10. The business management major followed up with a tie for fifth at the Mason Rudolph Championship, navigating The Legends Golf Club 10 strokes under par, earning back-to-back top five finishes for the first time in her career. She broke par in five of her six rounds, including three rounds in the 60s for a stroke average of 69.67.
 
Big 12 Golfers of the Month
Women’s:
September: Carolina Melgrati, Arizona
 
Men’s
September: Josele Ballester, Arizona State