The first time I decided I could play golf as a job was probably when I was around 10 or 11 years old. I used to play football as well and I used to split my time on both of those sports. It was when I was that age that I found out I didn’t have enough time to do both at a serious level, so I decided to stick with golf, and that became my life — practising and everything the sport requires. When I went to high school, my final four years, I played pretty good and that allowed me to get my scholarship in the US. So I made the good decision to head to the States and I played pretty good over there as well.

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I have always enjoyed playing golf and I am glad I made that first decision to take that route. 

When you play in college, it is very similar to what we have here at LIV Golf. In college you play for yourself for amateur ranking points and college ranking points, but you are also playing for your team and your college. If you are not playing great individually, you still want to do well for your team and college. It is the same here on LIV Golf. 

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There are differences too. In college, I used to live with the guys I played with. We would do everything together — go to classes, eat together, practise together — every day. In LIV, a lot of the time you do your own thing then come together and work together for each event. You can be a little more on your own off the course at LIV, but that team element at college, for sure, helped me play better here. 

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I also played a lot of team golf before I started college, representing Spain in the European Boys’ Team Championship, European Amateur Team Championship, Junior Golf World Cup,  

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Eisenhower Trophy and the Youth Olympics. I played for Spain for around seven years in these events and you would come together before an event — usually Madrid — then you would travel and stay together at the tournament. It was cool, and it is a good thing they do that in Europe, because when you go to college or even here in LIV Golf, you are used to that environment on and off the course from an early age. 

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I was invited to play at Centurion in the first LIV Golf event as an amateur last year. It was great. It was not a difficult decision — with everything that was going on at the time — and I think I made a pretty good decision playing there as it gave me a lot of experience, as indeed all the other tournaments since. I knew and I know that I belonged here, but I still learn things every single day — things that a lot of these guys here already know. It was great to play Centurion and see a course that was pretty tough and play against some of the best players in the world, share the course with them and see how they score and how they play. 

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There were a couple of things that made up my mind to cut short college and go professional. Having somewhere to play with LIV for a full year was unbelievable. It was a chance people from college don’t normally have. At the time, that was a super big deal because you are good as an amateur but you are nothing as a professional — nobody knows you, you don’t have anywhere to play and you have to start at the beginning like everybody else. Here at LIV, they gave me the chance to start against the best players in the world. That was the main influence in my decision to join LIV. You come from nearly nothing, avoid Q-Schools and all of that and you get straight in to play against the best in the world. It was a pretty easy decision to make.

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I won my first professional title at the Asian Tour International Series event in Singapore in October. I feel I have played a lot of quality golf recently and I knew that the victory was going to come at some point. I had a couple of rough finishes when I had been in with a chance of winning — especially in the UK International Series events at St Andrews and Close House, plus two top-10 finishes in LIV this year — but you just keep doing what you are doing and get the job done. I think I have always been good at that and I think I play well under pressure. I didn’t get over the line in the other events but I am glad to finally get that win. 

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I am not sure what the future holds, but I love LIV and [team] Torque, and I love the job the League are doing, so I can hopefully stay here for as long as I can.

Main image: David Cannon/Getty Images

The post David Puig: ‘I knew and I know that I belonged here’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

After winning their LIV Golf League-leading fourth team trophy of the season last Sunday in record-scoring fashion, Torque had a bit of fun — and maybe an undercurrent of frustration — in discussing the season-long standings.

Torque are still in second place. Still behind 4 Aces, who have produced half the success (two wins) this season.

“It’s a running joke on this team how the Aces keep going in front even though we keep winning,” said Sebastian Munoz, who at 30 is Torque’s elder spokesman. “Mito says the score is biased.”

That would be teammate Mito Pereira, who added, “I can’t believe we’re still second. Something is wrong here.”

Actually, it’s not so much about right or wrong but consistency.

With points weighted heavily toward higher tournament finishes, the defending champions, 4 Aces, have been atop the standings since grabbing the lead after the second tournament of the season. Dustin Johnson’s team didn’t win either of the first two events, but with consecutive runner-up results, they acquired enough points to overtake the first two team winners (Crushers in Mayakoba, Fireballs in Tucson).

Even after Torque won for the first time in Orlando in the third event, the Aces were still No. 1, thanks to a third-place finish. Finally, the Aces claimed the team trophy in Adelaide — their fourth consecutive podium result.

Through the first six events of 2023, the Aces led with 120 points while Torque were in sixth place at 65 points. In the five subsequent tournaments, the Aces claimed 48 points (with one win) while Torque added 96 points (thanks to their three wins, worth 32 points each).

That’s left the Aces in first going into this week’s LIV Golf Bedminster with 168 points, with Torque in second at 161 points.

Joaquin Niemann. Asian Tour

“We’re still second,” Captain Joaquin Niemann sighed.

“I guess they’re really solid and getting points every week,” added Pereira, almost grudgingly.

Stinger’s Charl Schwartzel, whose team sits third in the standings, said the points structure may need to be evaluated. “There needs to be more reward for winning,” he said. “If you’re winning four times, I think you should be leading.”

Although the win differential favours Torque, there are a couple of other data points that favour the 4 Aces and helps explain why they remain No. 1:

• Podium results: 4 Aces have 6, Torque have 5
• Average finish position: 4 Aces are at 4.2, Torque are at 4.3

Essentially, while Torque have more top-eight points finishes this season (nine to eight), the 4 Aces have more quality finishes.

But those are just numbers. What’s the perception among their LIV Golf competitors who are chasing the two teams? Who’s the team to beat right now — 4 Aces or Torque?

“It’s a tough choice between them, but they both played really, really well and really solid this year,” said Majesticks co-captain Henrik Stenson. “It will be interesting to see if any of the other teams can bring them down in Miami.”

“Obviously you’re trying to bait me a little with this question,” smiled HyFlyers’s Cameron Tringale.

Cameron Tringale. LIV Golf

Said Stinger captain Louis Oosthuizen: “The 4 Aces have a lot more seconds and thirds, but right now, Torque are by far the team that, at the moment, look like they’re going to finish at the top with the way they’re playing.”

Fireballs captain Sergio Garcia added: “I wouldn’t go just with those two. Obviously yeah, those are the usual suspects that you may say, but I think Crushers, obviously Bryson [DeChambeau] is playing very well, and Anirban [Lahiri] is very solid. Paul [Casey], if he’s fit, he’s a great player. Obviously Charl [Charles Howell III] is a really solid player, too.

“I think there’s several teams that have improved a lot this year. RangeGoats are much better than they were last year. You have to be aware of several of them, but at the end of the day, I think, like I said, I have a lot of belief and confidence in my team, and I think that if we’re firing on all cylinders, we can beat anyone.”

Certainly, DeChambeau’s 61-58 weekend at Greenbrier to win the individual title has the rest of the league on notice. A hot hand posting super-low scores alleviates some of the pressure for his teammates. The RangeGoats, for instance, have relied heavily on Talor Gooch’s league-leading three individual wins this season, as well as Harold Varner III’s win.

Lahiri said his Crushers captain is playing with the momentum of “a freight train”.

“We’re just going to ideally just ride his coattails,” Lahiri said. “But that’s what team golf is about. You need one guy to go super-hot or two guys to play really well, and then you want the other two guys to have those performances that pick the team up.”

But at the top of the standings, team depth matters the most.

The 4 Aces have just one individual win in 2023 (captain Dustin Johnson in Tulsa) but have combined for 16 top-10 points finishes. Every player has contributed at least three top 10s: DJ 5, Patrick Reed 4, Peter Uihlein 4, Pat Perez 3. Of the team’s 40 individual starts this season, 27 have resulted in points. And they’re the only team with all four players inside the top half of the individual season standings.

Torque are nearly as impressive. No individual wins this season, but 13 top 10s: Pereira 5, Munoz 4, Niemann 2, David Puig 2. Of their 40 cumulative starts, 25 have produced points.

The intriguing development is the rise of Puig, who at 21 years old is LIV Golf’s youngest player. Both of his top 10s have come in his last three starts, including his LIV-career best fourth at Greenbrier. He has emerged as one of the most valuable No. 4 players in any line-up.

“Probably the key thing for that team is how much David has improved, and that shows a lot,” Garcia said. “Obviously he’s gotten a lot more comfortable out here. At the beginning was probably a little bit nervy and stuff, but now you can see that he’s playing much better. He’s playing with a lot of confidence, and that’s helping the team a lot.”

With three tournaments left in the regular season, 4 Aces and Torque are virtually assured of first-round byes at the Team Championship. They can still jockey for position, which is important since the higher-seeded teams get to “draft” their opponent in the semi-final match-play round.

For now, the emphasis will be on acquiring more trophies.

The Aces, coming off their worst-ever result as a team — last place in Greenbrier — hope that Bedminster will offer better vibes. They won the team title here last year during a stretch of four consecutive victories.

Welcome back to Bedminster ?#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/hQqndUz6Ol

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) August 9, 2023

Meanwhile, Munoz said at the start of the season that he expected Torque to win three times. They’ve already surpassed that total. He’s now having to readjust his projections.

“We’re trending. We’re playing good,” Munoz said. “Our rookie, David, is playing great. He’s fighting for tournaments. I feel like we could make a couple more.”

If so, Torque may finally overtake the Aces and rise to No. 1 in the standings. The Spanish-speaking quartet is tired of the joke. Time now for serious business.

The post 4 Aces or Torque: Who’s really the team to beat as LIV Golf League 2023 reaches final stretch? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.