Spain’s David Puig secures important career victory
David Puigh enjoying the moment after his two-shot victory – image PGA of Australia
23-year-old Spaniard, David Pugh, joins his fellow countryman, Seve Ballesteros, as one of two Spaniards to win the Australian PGA Championship and the first non-Australian since 2016 with his two-shot win at Royal Queensland today.
Starting the day as one of three leaders through 54 holes, Puig hardly put a foot wrong throughout his round of 66, leading by four at one stage before China’s Wenyi Ding birdied his 16th and 17th holes for a round of 66 and outright second place. Puig fell behind briefly when Min Woo Lee birdied his first hole to take the lead, but it was short-lived, especially when Lee bogeyed the 4th.
Numerous players threatened to challenge Puig at various stages of the round, but, given the manner in which he was playing, they needed a very low round if they were to catch the LIV Golf player, and 66 (9 players) ended up being the equal best round of the day as Puig held off any challengers for his first DP World title and his third win as a professional.
Puig attended college at Arizona State during an impressive amateur career in which he represented Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup and Spain in the Junior World Cup and won several collegiate events. He joined LIV Golf soon after leaving college, and although he has yet to win on that tour, he has won two events on the Asian Tour.
“Oh yeah, it feels amazing,” said Pugh. “Really had a lot of close calls the last few years and throughout this year and last year, and wasn’t able to pull it through, and it feels unbelievable, especially making it possible in Australia. Really excited and happy.
“Yeah, I mean, I was pretty nervous (today) to be fair. Especially, you’re kind of thinking about the past a little bit, what I could have done a little better. Yeah, I mean, I was definitely nervous, but I think I kind of kept my composure really well, and that start helped a lot.”
When asked if he was aware of the situation during his closing nine holes when potential challenges were coming his way, Puig responded; “Oh yeah, for sure. It’s kind of hard on this golf course, you still need to attack a little bit, right, with these greens and how tough they are and yeah… I was definitely aware, and managed to a good job of it.”
The day began with 25 golfers within five shots of the lead, with the prospect of one of the great final day shootouts in store.
Three birdies in his first four holes and an outward nine of 32 established the lead Puig could only have dreamed of at the start of the day, however, and as his joint leaders through 54 holes, Anthony Quayle and Richard Gouveia, fell away, it was several others who entered the fray.
In the end, it would be China’s Ding, another looking for a first win on the DP World Tour, who emerged with a round of 66 to finish outright second with New Zealand’s Nick Voke and Australian Marc Leishman another shot back in a share of 3rd.
Ding did exceptionally well with seven birdies, especially given he opened both nines with bogeys and can be extremely proud of his eventual finish, given he has just one professional victory to his name to date. The world’s 269th ranked player certainly gave evidence of a much stronger game than that ranking.
It has been one year since Ding turned professional, missing the cut at this very event last year on debut in the professional ranks.
“I mean, this feels pretty good,” said Ding. “Just last year I missed a cut here. It was my first event out here, and I was a little bit struggling for my game. I lose my driver, I lose my irons, I lose my putter, and after my play went downhill. I changed my irons, I changed my putter, everything changed. And right now I feel much better than before.
“Honestly, no, because I got bogey on the first hole. I was a little bit sad. I don’t know what I should do. And some pars after the bogey, probably not my day, just won’t get to even par. But I do really great before turning to the back nine. I do really good on the last three holes.
“I played a couple of events before this one – it was pretty good. So it gave me some confidence to get back to the DP World Tour.”
While the result might not have been ideal for the sponsors and a large public turnout, given the possibility of yet another Australian victory, there is little doubting the quality of golf produced by the winner, and it may be that the 2025 BMW Australian PGA Champion goes on to become one of the game’s better players in the years ahead.
