David Puig (+3) has missed the cut at the PGA Championship at Valhalla. A setback for the young player from La Garriga. He needed to play under par this Friday to give himself a chance, but it was not possible. He signed a round of 73 strokes, with two birdies and four bogeys.
His missed cut is news. Not in vain, it is the first time it has happened to him in a professional tournament valid for the world ranking in his entire career. To date, he had surpassed 17 consecutive since he debuted at the Spanish Open in 2021. It is said soon. There are not many who can boast of such a brilliant streak. They were 17 out of 17 and at the eighteenth the sequence broke.
This is the objective data and it has a lot of value, although today Puig cared little. “I’m pissed off, really. I didn’t want to miss the cut and I think my game is fine. My feeling is that I’m hitting the ball well, but things just don’t work out. I’m not one for excuses. The reality is that I missed the cut and it was me who made +3, but I will have to analyze it. It is what it is. There will be time to do a deeper analysis, draw conclusions and polish details. I take it as one more experience,” he assured Ten Golf at the end of his round making an effort to be positive.
You never know when a round of golf can change, but it seems clear that holes 12 and 13, after starting at 10, have been very important on this second day for the Spaniard. At 12 he hit the best possible start, not even putting it by hand on the street would have been so good. He had a wedge in his hand and he fell short by a meter. He ended up in the rough and was not able to approach and putt. In short, a more than reasonable birdie option from the street, turned into a painful bogey. In addition, a very good birdie opportunity escaped him at 13, after having played a textbook hole.
It is true that there was still a lot of golf ahead, but even unconsciously, Puig already felt there that he was trailing and needed to subtract. Things didn’t work out for him. The reality is that from tee to green he was not bad. Maybe he lacked a little more finesse with the irons to leave better birdie options, but the main drag was in the short game and the putter. “Yes, I am a bit confused with the putt right now. It’s not good. I’m not getting anything from medium and long distance and on courses like this it’s very difficult to get a result without that resource. The short game has also been bad, but we know that that area goes in streaks,” he says.
He never threw in the towel and the best demonstration are the two birdies with which he ended his participation in Valhalla. Two good birdies, although they came a bit late. Who knows what would have happened if they had fallen a bit earlier and changed the dynamic.
Puig had high hopes for this PGA Championship, especially in relation to the battle to get into the Olympic Games. For now, he is still in, but he will only be able to add world ranking points if he surpasses the preliminary of the US Open, which he will initially play in San Francisco on June 3, and signs a good performance in Pinehurst. Meanwhile, Adrián Otaegui and Jorge Campillo, the two best placed in this beautiful fight with David to accompany Jon Rahm in Paris, will have more options to add points both in the DP World Tour and in the PGA Tour. We’ll see what happens.
