David Puig (-4) has managed to get through another very tough day at the Dubai Creek Golf Club. Even tougher than yesterday. Not so much because of the conditions, as there was less wind, but because his swing didn’t start off well. It was a battle against himself on the first holes. On the par 3 of the 5th, for example, he hit a rather inaccurate shot from the tee. Way to the left with the flag completely to the right. It wasn’t a disaster, but it wasn’t what he was aiming for. He then started repeating the swing gesture without a club to try to find some good feeling…
It took him a while. “I would say until the 7th hole I hit it just okay. The shot on the 8th wasn’t too bad and the second on the 9th was dreadful and cost me a bogey. Honestly, until the tee shot on the 10th I didn’t start to feel better. The last shots with the wind were very satisfying, although on TV it might not look the same because of the result. For example, the wedge on the 17th I hit as I wanted, but it ended up in the bunker because the wind didn’t take the ball as I thought it would. But it was a good shot,” Puig told Ten Golf after signing his card of 70 strokes.
The positive takeaway is very easy to make and Puig finds it no trouble at all. On a bad day, with bad feelings, with a lot of technical thoughts swirling in his head, he managed to play under par, save the day and give himself a chance for tomorrow. He’s in the mix, four shots behind Nacho Elvira, although he prefers not to do too much math. “Nacho is playing very well and I’m very happy for him. Let’s see if I can give him a run for his money tomorrow. I imagine that at the very least I’ll need to reach double digits (a round of six under in his case), although it will really depend a lot on how the wind blows,” he points out.
What also wasn’t seen on TV is what Puig did right after finishing his round. He went straight to the practice field to hit some balls. “It’s about time, I haven’t really done it since last Saturday. I’m going to hit some shots to see if I can get everything more or less back in place,” he explained with a smile. It’s worth remembering that David had media commitments with LIV Golf from Sunday to Tuesday and arrived in Dubai on Wednesday night, straight to play on Thursday. After the first two rounds, he didn’t hit balls, so yes, he really has gone a week without a good session on the range.
