England and Spain maintain a fabulous duel in Dubai. Both countries have accumulated eleven victories throughout history. No other golf passport has won as much in the emirate of the Burj Khalifa. It’s a technical tie. David Puig learns of this fact as soon as he signs his scorecard for the third round at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. “Good info,” he responds with a sly half-smile. And he adds: “We’ll have to do something about it tomorrow.”
Puig exudes calmness and conviction. He doesn’t raise his voice even after shooting a 66 on the moving day that has put him right into the tournament’s featured match. He knows he has an important Sunday ahead. He knows there’s a lot at stake. And he knows he’ll have a top-notch rival who will be very difficult to overthrow. All of this is true. But he also knows he’s playing very well. He knows he can win tournaments like the one in Australia on the DP World Tour two months ago. He knows he has all the resources to make birdies on the Majlis course at the Emirates. He knows he can go very low on this course. And above all, he knows he’s not afraid.
David is boldness and confidence. Only in this way can one overcome as if nothing had happened from “the worst shot of my life.” He refers to the tee shot on hole 11. Par 3. The flag is on the left, very close to the edge. Puig plays a shot about eight metres to the right of the flag and misses it about forty to the left. “I ended up in a place that doesn’t even appear in the yardage books,” he assures. He refers to a sandy area that divides the rough on the left of the green on 11 from the rough on the left of the tee on 15. They are two holes back and forth. Two par 3s.
The ball, moreover, ended up in a bad spot. It was a horrible shot with a horrible ending. He plans a shot as if he were in a fairway bunker and is about to perform magic. The first bounce in the rough isn’t as generous as it should be, preventing him from reaching the green. He saves a bogey without suffering. The swing was terrible, no half measures, but he also felt sweat on his hand, as if the club had slipped on the downswing. That could explain such a deviation.
Puig has managed to make that shot disappear. He erased it from his mind. There was no better way to do it than by scoring a good hole 12. It wasn’t just good, it was perfect. Textbook drive. Textbook iron. Textbook four-metre birdie putt. It didn’t go in, it’s true, but he hit it very well and it touched the hole. Perfect. It confirms that what happened on 11 was just an accident. Let’s keep playing golf.
The match is full of Spaniards outside the ropes. There’s Carlos, a businessman from Seville in love with Peruvian culture and gastronomy; Ana, a pastry chef at the Bull and Bear restaurant at the Waldorf Astoria in Dubai; a group of boys and girls who have just arrived in the emirate to train at the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade (ICEX); Mónica, the flag bearer (literally) who has been living here for 12 years and has never missed the tournament; Pablo, a fashion guru in the Middle East, responsible for Prada in the region; Íñigo, a finance enthusiast of golf who never misses a tournament wherever it may be and who can boast of having been to Augusta… Puig is going to provide a magnificent spectacle for all of them.
He misses the birdie on 13, 14, 15, and 16. In the first three, he touched the hole. It was very close. But the best is yet to come. Nobody move. Here comes the bombshell. Colossal drive on 17. He puts it on the green. It’s 322 yards. The shot was perfect, and the bounce too. It landed just on the rise towards the green, stopped it, and left a magnificent four-metre birdie putt. Sublime.
And unique. No one hit a better shot all day from that tee. Only one other player put it on the green. It’s New Zealander Ryan Fox, but his birdie putt was ten metres. Well done, Ryan, but it can’t compare to the Spanish delight. Remember that today 70 golfers played on the Majlis course. Imagine the magnitude of David’s shot. The ICEX kids are amazed, and only one of them is a golf enthusiast, dreaming of seeing the Masters at Augusta live with his father someday.
Don’t go away, there’s more to come. His 18th hole is textbook. Great drive, very good second shot with the iron to the clouds, and fantastic, very difficult chip to leave a given birdie. You can hear the Spaniards. It’s no wonder. Two weeks in Dubai and two featured matches on Sunday. From Nacho Elvira to David Puig, and it’s my turn.
Puig knows that making up the four-shot deficit with Reed will be a tough and very complicated task. After all, no leader of this tournament has let slip three or more shots in the final round. It happened eight times, and seven times they won. The only exception was Paul McGinley, who didn’t win in 2004 because Mark O’Meara did. Both were tied with a three-shot lead over the third. “We’re going to go out, try to make some birdies and see where it takes us.” Like someone who’s been doing it all their life… Well, maybe not all their life, but he’s getting used to it, and so are we.
