– David Puig (-18) has won the BMW Australian PGA Championship, the first tournament of the DP World Tour for the 2026 season, in his first appearance as a full member of this circuit. He is the second Spanish player in history to win this tournament, achieving it 44 years after Severiano Ballesteros (1981), a circumstance that certainly gives this victory even more special value in Spain and also, in some way, reaffirms the aura of this young player (he will turn 24 in a few days), destined for glory.
– Indeed, David has claimed his first victory on the European circuit after once again posting, just like on Saturday, the best score of the day at the Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane (a round of 66 strokes), with absolute composure and control of the situation, seizing the lead from the early stages of the round and consolidating it with a series of three birdies on holes 2, 3, and 4.
– It is worth pausing on this splendid initial series, which sent a resounding message to the rest of the contenders: he holed a four-metre putt on the 2nd, another from about nine metres on the 3rd, and then hit an excellent shot from the tee on the 4th, a par 3, leaving the ball one metre from the cup. Unassailable. Then, of course, such a start had to be consolidated, and the Catalan was going to do it with the same composure as the rest of the week (only two bogeys in 72 holes), attacking the flags aggressively only when the numbers were clear, ultimately delivering a bogey-free card for the third time.
– With Puig, a sensation begins to emerge that only the most important players exude: when he is reasonably sharp on the greens, he is at the top of the leaderboard, no matter what. Given that most of his professional activity takes place in LIV Golf, it is very likely that his real value as a player is not reflected in the world ranking, where he will move around Number 115 starting tomorrow. This year 2025 has been the best for the Spaniard in the Saudi league, where he finished tenth in the ranking, but his numbers outside of LIV provide even more information: to date, he has played 36 tournaments counting towards the world ranking in his career and already has three victories (two on the Asian Tour and one on the DPWT), eight top 3 finishes, and fifteen top ten finishes. Specifically, he has the same number of victories as missed cuts in these 36 events… These are numbers that take us to the realm of the chosen ones, without a doubt, because they speak of a consistency in excellence that is far above average. As mentioned: under normal circumstances, if Puig has a solid week on the greens (it doesn’t even need to be marvellous), he will be meddling at the top of the leaderboard.
– For now, it will be a luxury to see the Catalan tomorrow at the top of the Race to Dubai. Just as it is for Spanish golf to have already secured the first victory on the first attempt, an omen of what could be an exceptional 2026 campaign. Josele Ballester (-11) will not appear in the official European circuit ranking, as he is not a member, but he would also be very high, as today he posted the same score as Puig, a 66, the best of the day, and just broke into the top ten of the tournament. Excellent performance by the Castellon native after opening his record last week in Arabia, a victory with similar echoes, given the control of the situation that Josele also showed at the time when the good are truly separated from the very good.
– It was not a good Sunday, however, for the other two Spaniards who made the cut, Rocco Repetto (-3) and Sebas García (-2), with rounds of 76 and 75 strokes that sank them in the standings. Nevertheless, let’s focus on the stellar moments they both provided, which in some way also indicate what they are capable of: that lead by Sebas after the first round after posting what ultimately was the best result of the week (63), only matched in the second round by Kazuma Kobori; and that historic series by Rocco to finish the first round with a score of eight under (four birdies and two eagles) in his last six holes, which took him to second place, just one stroke behind the Madrid native. They too have left their mark.
