David Puig is going to play four consecutive weeks. He started this sequence in Hong Kong, playing the LIV Golf tournament, followed it last week in Singapore and will play from Thursday in South Africa. It will be his first professional tournament in that country, on the first visit that the Saudi league is also making. It is played at the The Club at Steyn City, north of Johannesburg. Finally, he will close this four-tournament streak with the Hero Indian Open of the DP World Tour next week.
The presence of Puig at the DLF Country Club in New Delhi, as anticipated by the podcast Bola Provisional, is part of the agreement signed between the DP World Tour and eight LIV Golf players announced at the end of February. Fines for playing LIV events in weeks with European Tour dates have been replaced by the commitment to play a series of events in exchange for retaining membership. The stop in India is part of the agreement between Puig and the DP World Tour.
The Spanish golfer is not the only member of the group that signed the agreement present in India. Also taking part will be Elvis Smylie, winner of the first LIV Golf event held in Saudi Arabia. They are two important, high-profile signings to add more weight to the tournament to be played from 26 to 29 March, just before Holy Week.
However, the most high-profile addition to the Hero Indian Open is that of Akshay Bhatia, an American of Indian descent and the recent winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational two weeks ago. Bhatia’s presence is logical because of his ancestry and because Hero is one of his main sponsors. Even so, it will be the first time he plays this tournament.
Bhatia has so far played four regular DP World Tour tournaments. He debuted back in 2020 at the PIF Saudi International, where he missed the cut, continued with the Barracuda and Barbasol in 2023, two hybrid tournaments shared with the PGA Tour, and completed his appearances at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last year. In these just four tournaments he already has one victory, the one he achieved at the Barracuda which allowed him to settle on the PGA Tour. At the Emirates Golf Club he finished in 37th place.
In any case, his biggest victory was the one achieved at Bay Hill just 10 days ago, a triumph that allowed him to enter the world top 20. At THE PLAYERS he has again delivered a notable performance, finishing in 13th place.
Regarding Puig’s agreement with the DP World Tour, remember that besides India, he is scheduled to take part in the Turkish Airlines Open from 30 April to 3 May, the finale of the Asian Swing of the European Tour. David is playing over the next two weeks in South Africa and India for a possible place in the Masters de Augusta. He will need at least one victory and another big finish to be able to break into the world top 50. It’s very difficult, but the option is on the table. Right now he occupies 85th place.
