PUIG LEADS STRONG ASIAN TOUR CONTINGENT AT PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
LONDON - In-form Spaniard David Puig is hoping to reproduce his red-hot form on the Asian Tour and The International Series this season when he tees up this week at the second major of the season, the PGA Championship.
Puig is one of four representatives from the Asian Tour and The International Series, the set of 10 elevated events that form a pathway to the LIV Golf League, at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
Last year’s International Series Rankings winner Andy Ogletree will also start alongside in-form Chilean Joaquin Niemann and Japan’s Takumi Kanaya, the 2023 International Series Oman champion.
Puig, just 22, is No.106 on the Official World Golf Ranking, but he earned his invite with a superb run of form that has brought top-10 finishes in four OWGR events, including a win in the season-opening IRS Prima Malaysian Open.
The Barcelona-born player, who also plays for the Fireballs GC team on the LIV Golf League, said: “I am performing pretty well on the Asian Tour. It is a tour right now that when I tee off, I feel pretty comfortable about my game and I feel capable of playing good golf.
“Obviously winning the first event of the year in Malaysia helped me a lot to climb those rankings. If I'm very honest, at the beginning of the year I didn't think the PGA was an option because of my schedule.”
Following his win in Malaysia, which also secured a berth in The Open at Royal Troon from 18-21 July, Puig returned an impressive T10 at International Series Oman.
Last season’s International Series Singapore champion followed that up with an outright second at International Series Macau presented by Wynn, losing out in a thrilling play-off to John Catlin after carding a final-round 60.
At one stage earlier this season, Puig was on a run of seven straight weeks of golf, including Asian Tour and LIV Golf League commitments, but the youngster believes the hard work is paying dividends.
He said: “I’m super-excited that all this travel has paid off with good results here on The International Series and Asian Tour. Seeing that the PGA of America saw all my travel and my dedication is really cool, and I look forward to this week."
“I knew that playing on the Asian Tour and The International Series would help my game,” Puig added. “When I started, I never played any professional events besides one when I was an amateur, so I had to play as much as I can so I can start gaining that experience.
“The travel has been a little intense this last couple of years, but travelling to these new places and competing in these great events is something that I have really enjoyed doing.”
Puig is taking a philosophical approach to his second Major appearance, after managing a T39 at the U.S. Open in Los Angeles last year. He said: “I didn't think much about it yet. I don't want to rush things and at the end of the day, I see it as another tournament. It's a bigger one, the name says so and it's a Major for sure.
“But at the same time, the routine is going to be pretty much the same. You know, try to have two, three good practice days and try to learn as much as I can on the course and after that, just try to plan the best strategy and from there, just try to play as best as I can and hopefully have a good week.”
Tom Kim, the 2021 Asian Tour No. 1 who now plays on the PGA Tour, is also in the field for the tournament along with YE Yang, the South Korean who became the first Asian to win a Major when lifting the Wanamaker Trophy in 2009 at Hazeltine.
(Photo courtesy of Asian Tour)