David Puig arrived this Friday at the practice field of Pinehurst and from afar he heard a voice shouting at him: “David, I’ve dreamed that you’re going to make the cut and you’re going to play in the Olympic Games“. It wasn’t just anyone’s voice, it was Andra, his mother, who admitted that that Thursday night to Friday she had dreamed that ‘her’ David would play his first Games. If he needed a final push before the challenge, there it was. There’s only one mother and if she dreams of something you go for it as if there was no tomorrow.
And he has done it. The goal of making the cut became a mission. A card of 68 strokes has served him to fulfill a mother’s dream and his own dream that he has fought like no one to achieve. It’s yours now, David. No one can take it away from you. The deadline for qualification to Paris closes after the US Open and by making the cut in North Carolina he definitively takes the second place available for Paris, surpassing Jorge Campillo: “It’s a dream come true, being able to play the Games and represent Spain is something incredible. Plus I’m going to do it alongside Rahm, we’re good friends and it’s spectacular that I’m going to play there”.
The reality is that nobody has given anything to the Catalan player. He had a long and tortuous path, as playing in LIV Golf he barely had options to score points for the world ranking. Far from giving up, he went for it like a wild boar, but he had one more step, a quite big one. He needed to make the cut in the US Open 2024 and he has done it. And how he has done it. Yesterday things looked grim for the one from La Garriga after signing a painful round of +6. The outlook was not at all promising, he was going to need a round under par and on the first day in Pinehurst only fifteen players had done it.
On Thursday afternoon something changed. Something clicked in David. As soon as he finished his round of 76 strokes he went straight to the practice field with his coach, Dave Philips. He needed something in his swing that they had been looking for all week and that he couldn’t quite find. He had worked very well, but that last feeling that changes everything was missing. He didn’t even eat. He wanted to find that something that would give him more confidence in his game and thus have more chances to fight for the Games. He spent more than an hour on the driving range.
What Puig was looking for is nothing new. They are small adjustments that are part of a golfer’s daily life, but they are key to feeling comfortable on the ball. Without getting into too many technical intricacies to avoid making a mistake, it turns out that Puig, when he unwinds, when he lowers the club, has a tendency to move his hips very quickly, so that his shoulders run the risk of being a little delayed. The consequence of arriving a millisecond late is a recurrent and annoying failure to the right. On Thursday afternoon his body clicked. He found the feeling and today he has been much more comfortable on the ball. A detail that has served to sign a result that only eleven players have achieved or improved this Friday. Because David, cool him, has even had the luxury of making the cut with a stroke of rent.
Another vital aspect for Puig has been having his family here. Both his parents and his girlfriend Berta, with whom he recently moved in. Andra and Berta are the ones who transmit more positive energy. For example, they were very important to grease Thursday with good doses of humor what had been a bad round of golf.
In the end, a mother’s dream, visibly moved after her son’s achievement, has been fulfilled. Nothing is greater for a mother than to see her son happy and fulfilling dreams. The cross of this story is suffered by Jorge Campillo, the player that David Puig has surpassed. Honors to the Caceres player who has traveled the whole world trying to get that spot. Only one could remain and the venture is for David.
