David Puig (-8) has delivered a card of 67 strokes in the second round of the BMW International Open and is just one stroke behind the shared lead by Jordan Smith (-9), his playing partner, Yuto Katsuragawa (-9), and Daniel Brown (-9). Once again flying low, once again stalking the lead, once again playing very well.
In Germany, he is playing the seventh regular tournament of the DP World Tour in his rapid career. We insist, regular tournaments, not including Majors. In total, he has played 26 rounds of golf, and his record is absolutely impressive. Of those 26, he has played under par 23 times, and the other three times have been par cards. In other words, the young man from La Garriga, aged 23, has yet to lose a match with a golf course on the European Circuit. This is incredible. Almost stratospheric.
His total in these 26 rounds is no less impressive. In the debit and credit sheet of Puig with the DP World Tour, the balance that comes out right now, updated to the second round in Munich, is -88. Crazy. This means that David’s average strokes are below 69. In relation to par, his average is -3.38 per day. Galactic.
Certainly, it cannot be said that Puig has not made the most of his first two days of golf with Luke Donald, captain of the Ryder Cup. He has made it very clear what he is capable of doing. That he hits as long as anyone, that birdies come out of his ears, and that he has a very special grit. Very Ryder. No better example than what happened today at the start of his round. David started with a painful double bogey. He missed the tee shot to the left on the 10th and was forced to drop with a penalty. Then, he missed a short putt to save the bogey. His reaction was tremendous. On the next hole, he made an eagle. What double bogey? Marked to zero. Blow returned. From there, he made six birdies and only one bogey. Textbook.
The most important thing Donald has noted in his notebook is the spectacular versatility of the Spaniard. Birdies can come in any way, with a long putt, with a given chip, with a bomb, short iron, and almost given putt. A thousand and one resources. On the 16th hole, he caught the green in one playing in the morning, and on the 1st hole, he unleashed a 369-yard drive. Beastly. Obviously, Puig is fully involved in the fight for victory. As always, trying to take advantage of every opportunity he has to add to the world ranking and, at the same time, seeing the way to get into Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the DP World Tour playoffs.
The day for the Spaniards has been quite positive, beyond Puig’s almost lead. Nacho Elvira (-4) and Ángel Ayora (-4) are in the noble zone, closer to the front than the back. Two rounds of 70 strokes. Nacho has played very orderly from tee to green, with only one mistake in his round, falling into the water on the 4th. Meanwhile, Ayora has played like clockwork. He just needed to sink a few more putts. He left a thousand opportunities along the way.
Also making the cut are Jorge Campillo (-3) and Pablo Larrazábal (-3), with rounds today of 69 and 71 strokes, while Alex del Rey (-2) could also make it, but will have to wait until the end of the day. Today’s effort deserves the cut, as he delivered a card of 67 strokes. On the other side of the balance are Josele Ballester (-1), Ángel Hidalgo (+2), and Eugenio Chacarra (+8). All three have missed the cut. At least, the first two managed to play under par today.
