David Puig (-12) has done it again. As happened a year ago, the golfer from La Garriga has qualified to compete in the US Open through the preliminary round. He achieved this on Monday in San Francisco, on the Lake Merced course, in a big way.
The 22-year-old player won his qualifier with two rounds of 68 and 64 strokes, without bogeys and with a total of twelve birdies, four in his first 18 holes today and a whopping eight in the second. Without discussion. Almost without suffering. Two dizzying rounds to get his ticket to Pinehurst next week.
This will be Puig’s third Major in his career, the second US Open after his debut in 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club, where he played all four days and signed off on a notable performance. He also played the PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he did miss the cut, the first of his career in tournaments valid for the world ranking, he will now be in Pinehurst and remember that he also has his place secured to play the Open Championship at Royal Troon next July.
So, we will have three Spaniards in the US Open next week. Puig joins Jon Rahm, qualified by various criteria, among them winner of the US Open in 2021, and Eugenio López Chacarra, who also got his place a few weeks ago through the preliminary round, in his case in Dallas, where Sergio García was the first reserve. The Borriol player will only enter if there is any drop among those who qualified in his preliminary round.
The presence in the US Open also brings Puig a little closer to the Paris Olympic Games. It will be the last week that counts for the classification and he has given himself the opportunity to score points and defend the second place he currently holds against Adrián Otaegui, Jorge Campillo and Nacho Elvira, who will play this week in Sweden to try to oust him. The other qualifier for the Games is Jon Rahm.
The amateur Josele Ballester (-7) was very close to becoming the fourth Spaniard in Pinehurst. He also played the preliminary round at Lake Merced and signed off on a more than notable performance. The Castellón golfer handed in two cards of 69 and 68 strokes and finished just three strokes off the cut. At Lake Merced, 84 golfers played for four places.
Similarly, the also amateur Josep Serra played one of the ten US Open preliminaries spread across the United States this Monday. Specifically, he participated in the one in Florida, on the The Bear’s course. He did not get the pass to Pinehurst with rounds of 73 75 strokes for a total of +5. The cut in this qualifier was three under par. Great experience in any case for the young Spanish golfer, who passed the first US Open preliminary to be able to play here this Monday.
Precisely, in Florida was the largest contingent of LIV Golf players who this Monday have tried their qualification for the US Open and which has finally yielded a very discreet balance of two qualifiers, the already mentioned David Puig and the South African Dean Burmester, one of the most in-form golfers of the Saudi league in 2024. Matt Jones, Anirban Lahiri, Joaco Niemann, Cameron Tringale, Graeme McDowell, Charl Schwartzel, Peter Uihlein, Branden Grace, Andy Ogletree, who curiously won the US Amateur in Pinehurst, Hudson Swafford, Kieran Vincent, Lucas Herbert, Sebastián Muñoz, Marc Leishman and Kevin Chappell were left in the attempt.
Beyond LIV, other PGA Tour golfers have qualified, such as Matt Kuchar, a veteran in a thousand battles, Webb Simpson, Daniel Berger, Brendon Todd, Seamus Power, Justin Lower, Sam Bennett, Chesson Hadley, Cameron Davis, Beau Hossler, Aaron Rai, Adam Svensson or Mark Hubbard.
On the other hand, the one who is currently out is Adam Scott. The Australian, like Sergio García, finished as the first reserve in the Springfield, Ohio preliminary. Like the Spaniard, he played his presence in Pinehurst in the playoff against his compatriot Cameron Davis, but was left out. Remember that he has the best streak of consecutive Majors played (90) and it seems that it will break here. Only a last-minute special invitation from the USGA or a drop from any of the four qualifiers from his preliminary, the aforementioned Davis, Zac Blair, Beau Hossler or Carson Schaake, would prevent it.
Finally, some amateurs have also qualified: Luke Clanton, the Canadian Ashton McCulloch, Jackson Buchanan, the Dane Fredrik Kjettrup, Wells Williams, the Mexican Omar Morales, Benjamin James, Gunnar Broin and Colin Prater.
