BRISBANE, Australia — David Puig earned the biggest tournament title of his pro golf career and joined the late and legendary Seve Ballesteros, a fellow Spaniard, by winning the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland.
Puig had a share of the 54-hole lead entering Sunday, and his nerveless final round of 5-under-par 66 was built on a flurry of early birdies. That allowed him to break free on a congested leaderboard in which 31 players were within six shots of the lead at the start of the day.
Puig became only the ninth international winner of the event and just the second since 1998, joining Ballesteros — a former world No. 1 and five-time major champion — who won the tournament in 1981 as was the event’s only Spanish winner until Sunday. Ballesteros died in 2011 at age 54.
“It feels amazing. I’ve really had a lot of close calls in a few events throughout this year and last year, and I kind of wasn’t able to pull it through,” said 23-year-old Puig, who competes in the LIV Golf League and is a member of the Fireballs GC team captained by Sergio Garcia. “It feels unbelievable especially to win here in Australia, and I played some awesome golf so I’m really excited and happy.
A simple two-putt for par on the par-4 18th was enough for a two-shot victory over China’s Wenyi Ding (66) and his third professional title, but the first in an event sanctioned by the Europe-based DP World Tour. Puig finished at 18-under 266.