Situate the scene at its exact point. You come from playing in Dallas, fighting until the end for a spot in the Open, and you miss out. You were close. First blow. Immediately afterwards, you take a transoceanic flight to arrive in time for the British qualifier in the United Kingdom. Less than 48 hours after finishing in Texas. You excel in the first round, and when you’re almost there, disaster strikes. Another blow. Even bigger. You’re out of the Open. Without even having time to lick your wounds, you tee off on the 1st hole of the BMW International Open and play 18 holes of competition in the DP World Tour. Oh, a detail we almost forgot. Next to you is Luke Donald, European captain of the Ryder Cup. You play with him for the first time, knowing he wants to see you up close with Bethpage in mind. You know it.
Well, from all that mess, you come out with a round of 69 strokes, three under par, and you find yourself on the verge of the top 10. That’s what David Puig has done. What do you think? Yes, it is very commendable and demonstrates many things, especially confidence, bravery, commitment, and hunger. All of that spills out of the young man from La Garriga, which is why he resonates so much and connects with the fans. Let hole 16 of Golfclub München Eichenried serve as a metaphor… and we’ll explain.
Hole 16 is a short par 4. You can go for the green. Today, it’s true that the wind was against from the right, raising some doubts, but the big hitters were reaching it well. However, only four of the 156 players who started this BMW International Open went for the green in one. Bravery, commitment, and hunger. One of them, of course, was David Puig. He hit a great shot from the tee. He placed it level with the flag on the left, just off the green. He had a 15-metre approach left, which he resolved in two strokes. Recovery for birdie. He went to -4, and Donald was salivating.
The others who went for it, honour and glory to them too, were Marco Penge (-5), the tournament leader, Mikael Lindberg (-3), a Swede who hits it hard and is debuting this week with a Spanish caddie: Carlos González, alias Monty, and Iván Cantero (-1). It’s the club of because I can. And the presidents are Cantero and Penge, who did it playing in the morning, with less heat, probably more wind, and the ball flying a bit less. All four made birdie. Many were also made playing short, for the record. Let the data serve only as a metaphor for the player Puig is.
By the way, the Catalan is the top Spaniard on the leaderboard after a start that wasn’t bad. Anything under par should be considered positive, and we have six Spaniards there: Puig (-3), Cabrera Bello (-2), Larrazábal (-2), Ayora (-2), Nacho Elvira (-2), and Cantero (-1). Special mention for Pablo’s round, without bogeys, and for Ángel’s, who also came from missing out on the Open in the qualifier, fighting all day. Additionally, Jorge Campillo made par. Right now, the cut is at -1, and it’s very likely that tomorrow it will go to -2. Fingers crossed because there’s a storm warning for Friday. There was one for today too, and we got away with it.
As for the Spaniards, they finished under par and, therefore, somewhat in need: Joel Moscatel (+1), Eugenio Chacarra (+1), Alfredo García Heredia (+2), Josele Ballester (+2), Sergio García (+3), Manu Elvira (+3), Alex del Rey (+3), and Ángel Hidalgo (+6).
Regarding the tournament leaders, maximum equality. There are five players tied at -5: Marco Penge, Gavin Green, Wenyi Ding, Darius Van Driel, and Ugo Coussaud. The last three played in the afternoon, with less wind, but the greens were more trodden and treacherous.
