LIV star sets sights on PGA Championship and Olympic spot despite ranking blow
LIV Golf star David Puig has set himself a target of earning a spot at the PGA Championship and the Olympic Games, despite the breakaway league giving up on earning Official World Golf Ranking recognition.
Puig opted to turn pro to join the LIV setup in 2022, and has since announced himself as one of the league's rising stars. Unlike some of his fellow LIV members, the Spaniard's recent venture into pro golf means he has no exemptions in the sport's four major championships, and has been forced to look elsewhere to force his way in.
With the breakaway league's events continuing to go ahead without world ranking points, Puig has ventured out to the Asian Tour in recent months and this has come with reward.
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Having won the Malaysian Open last month, Puig banked himself a spot at this year's Open Championship at Royal Troon and is hoping to add another major spot by breaking into the world's top-100 at this week's International Series event in Macau, having enjoyed an impressive start.
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The former college star - who already has one International Series win to his name to his name - is leading the pack alongside South African Jbe Kruger at 11-under-par at the halfway point. He impressed in Friday's round, shooting a superb six-under 64, the perfect start to his plan to break into the top-100.
He told Flushing It post-round: "Here I am trying to hopefully win or maybe finish second this week and see if I can break that top 100 and get into the PGA. That's the main goal for this week." Away from the majors one other key event that will be on the radar of the world's best golfers is this summer's Olympics.
David Puig has impressed in Macau after 36 holes (Getty Images)The top two players from each competing nation will head to Le Golf National in Paris in August, and Puig is hoping he can do so in his native Spanish colours. "Yeah, [the Olympics] another [target]," he added. "There's three Spanish guys that we're all kind of close and they have a lot of more tournaments than I do.
"It's obviously probably my biggest plan and just hopefully playing the Olympics, that'd be great." With fellow LIV star and Masters champion Jon Rahm a dead-cert to make the Spanish duo in France thanks to his lofty position in the ranking, there will be one spot for Puig to battle his way into the mix.
As alluded to by Puig, three Spaniards currently sit above the 22-year-old in the world rankings - Pablo Larrazabal, Jorge Campillo and Adrian Otaegui - and they have an advantage of playing OWGR-sanctioned events week-in-week-out on the DP World Tour.
A win in Macau this week however would no doubt go a long way to helping his chances, especially with the OWGR's new multi-win points boost which Puig has already benefited from following his previous two victories in Singapore and Malaysia.
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