Two Reasons Why Masters Amateur Jose Luis Ballester Was The Talk Of Social Media

There are five amateur golfers playing in the 2025 Masters, but there's only one that everyone is talking about right now - and it has nothing to do with how talented a golfer he is.

Spain's Jose Luis Ballester, who was playing alongside defending Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and former World No.1 Justin Thomas, was seen taking relief in Rae's Creek during the opening round.

The problem - and this could be a big one for the US Amateur champion - is that we're not talking relief in a golfing sense. He needed the toilet.

"I completely forgot that we had those restrooms to the left of the tee box," the 21-year-old said afterwards.

"I really need to pee. I didn't really know where to go, and since Justin Thomas had an issue on the green, I'm like, I'm just going to sneak here in the river."

Ballester thought he wouldn't be seen, but he knew he had when the patrons started clapping him.

Whether Augusta National officials - known for their implementation of strict rules - see the funny side of this remains to be seen.

It's possible that they will take a dim view of the matter, especially as Ballester didn't seem too apologetic afterwards.

"[It was] probably one of the claps today that I got real loud, so that was kind of funny," he added.

"The [patrons] saw me. It was not embarrassing at all for me. If I had to do it again, I would do it again."

A case, then, of if you have to go, you have to go.

Ballester also had people talking about his choice of headwear.

The Spaniard's cap was emblazoned with the words 'Sun Devils' in homage to Arizona State University, where he played college golf, only upside-down, a trend that started in 2020 when he was in his teens.

At last year's Masters, Jason Day turned a lot of heads with his choice of Malbon sweater, which he was asked to remove by Augusta officials.

It remains to be seen what Ballester wears for Friday's round, or whether he will tee it up at all.

There's no suggestion that that the player will be disqualified - which would be a harsh punishment - although it would not be a surprise to see him turn up for his tee time on Friday looking a little sheepish.