David Puig (-11) has taken the lead in the International Series of Macao after the second day. Yes, again. Another tournament with the Spanish golfer at the top. Another weekend fighting for victory. Over and over again. Consistency. Solidity. Determination. It doesn’t seem to matter that he’s been competing for seven consecutive weeks. Youth and ambition can overcome everything and more.
Puig handed in a sensational scorecard of 64 strokes this Friday, with seven birdies and a solitary bogey. Only two mistakes in 36 holes. It’s his tenth round in this 2024 on the Asian Tour and his average stroke count is stratospheric: 66.8. Of all of them, half have been 65 strokes or less. A new demonstration of his enormous ability to fly low.
With six holes left to finish his round today, David was going with a decent, but discreet, two under par. He had made three birdies in the first seven holes, hitting every single green, but had made a bogey on the 11th and was five strokes behind the leader Mito Pereira, at that time with -12. It can’t be said that his chances of winning were slipping away, as there was still a lot to finish, but they were certainly getting very uphill.
It was just at that moment when Puig took his rifle, like Johnny in the 1971 Dalton Trumbo movie. The player from La Garriga hit two bombs to activate a spectacular end of the round. He caught the 13th hole in two, a par 5 of 530 yards, and again caught the green of the 15th in one, a par 4 of 340 yards. Pim, pam. Two eagle chances that ended in birdie. Two easy birdies. These two hits have catapulted him to finish with two more birdies on the 17th and 18th for that round of 64. Sensational.
He is tied for the lead with South African Jbe Kruger (-11), a familiar face on the European circuit and the Asian Tour itself. One stroke behind are Chilean Mito Pereira (-10), who made a double bogey in the final stretch of his round, and Swede Bjorn Hellgren (-10). Two strokes behind are Mexican Carlos Ortiz (-9), Pat Perez (-9) and Yuta Suigura (-9). The leaderboard is again quite packed, with 30 players separated by only four strokes.
Another of the day’s big names was also Spanish. We refer to Sergio Garcia (-5). The golfer from Borriol put himself in a very difficult position to make the cut on Thursday, after handing in a result of two over par. However, today he has displayed his best golf, playing in the morning, and has signed a fantastic 63 at the Macao Golf & Country Club, to get back in the fight. He has matched the best round of the day. Victory seems a bit far off, as there are many golfers ahead, but he can certainly give a fight to finish the tournament very high, something that seemed impossible 24 hours ago. Sensational reaction with an almost impeccable tee to green game.
Carlos Pigem (-5) has also earned his place for the weekend with a second round of 67 strokes. The golfer from Lleida has built his day on a dazzling start, with five birdies in the first ten holes, to the point of placing himself with a partial score of -7. From there, he made two bogeys and lost some momentum, but the sensations of his golf continue to be very good, showing great consistency with the 16 greens caught today.
The cross of the day has been for Eugenio López Chacarra (+4). The golfer from Madrid has not been able to lift his bad initial day and has been left out of the tournament with a round of par. He has had many hits again, but some mistakes have also fallen that have not allowed him to recover. He finishes tied with Anthony Kim, who also signed a round of par today. Likewise, Sebastian Muñoz, retired, Sihwan Kim, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Justin Harding, Graeme McDowell, Jazz Janewatttananod or Harold Varner III have been left out of the tournament.
