LIV Golfer Jose Luis Ballester plays for LIV Golf. He won the PIF Saudi International last November.

Now the 22-year-old Spaniard has revealed he wants dual membership on the DP World Tour, and says the plan was never triggered by LIV's funding troubles.

Ballester spoke to Bunkered this week ahead of his fifth DP World Tour start at the BMW International Open in Germany. He has played four events on the circuit so far this season on tournament invites. Membership for 2027 is the next step.

"I'm working on that," Ballester told Bunkered of taking up DP World Tour membership. "We don't really know what's going to happen with LIV. I mean, I believe it's going to stay around. But even before these rumours came out, my idea was still to get the dual membership and play on DP as much as I could."

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund announced it would withdraw its LIV Golf backing at the end of the 2026 season. The league is still searching for alternative funding to continue beyond that point. Ballester's dual membership plan, he says, came before any of that.

His path to membership has three options. A win in any Race to Dubai-counting event grants automatic membership for the following year. If that doesn't happen, he can qualify through the non-members' points list, earning at least the equivalent points of the player finishing 100th in the Race to Dubai rankings. The third route is the Qualifying School.

Recent form on the DP World Tour has been inconsistent. He said the last two tournaments did not go well, so he knows he needs a strong performance this week. 

He also pointed out that he had some good results earlier in the year in Australia. Because of that, he is hoping to get a few more solid finishes so he can keep his playing status for next season and avoid going to Q-School.

LIV Golfer Ballester earns open spot after West Lancs qualifying

The BMW International Open isn't Ballester's only good news this week.

He also came through Open Final Qualifying at West Lancs, earning a spot at The Open Championship.

It marked his first success at the qualifying stage. "This is the first [qualifier] that I've made it through, so I'm really happy," he said, as per the same Bunkered interview. "Happy with the way I dealt with the pressure at the end, the shots that I hit to finally get it done."

Ballester closed with a seven-under 65 at West Lancs to get through at nine under, per Bunkered. The 2024 U.S. Amateur champion turned down full Korn Ferry Tour status a year ago to join Sergio Garcia's Fireballs GC at LIV Golf.

What do you think? Is dual membership the right move for Ballester? Let us know in the comments!

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Zaid Quraishi