David Puig became the first Spaniard since the legendary Seve Ballesteros to win the Australian PGA Championship, securing the Joe Kirkwood Cup with a superb final round of 66 at Royal Queensland on Sunday.
Puig, who turns 24 in a week and was playing his first event since joining the DP World Tour, carded a second successive bogey-free round, finishing at 18-under to win the tournament by two strokes from China’s Wenyi Ding, who also had a final-round 66.
It was the first time a Spanish player had won the event since the late Ballesteros claimed the crown as a 24-year-old in 1981 at Royal Melbourne, where he fought back from five strokes down in the final round to beat Billy Dunk by three shots, with Greg Norman finishing a further stroke back in a tie for third.
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“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,” Puig said.
“It feels unbelievable especially to win here in Australia and I played some awesome golf so I’m really excited and happy.”
Local favourites Marc Leishman (15-under) and Min Woo Lee (14-under) were both in contention at the turn but couldn’t find the putts they needed to make a charge.
New Zealander Nick Voke (66) made three birdies on the back stretch to finish in a tie for third with Leishman.
Former world No 1 and 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott (69) finished seventh at 13-under and will rue a number of birdie misses that would have had him right in the mix in his native Queensland state.
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While other contenders slipped, Puig held his nerve and made birdie on the 13th and saved par at the 14th to keep Ding at arms length as the Chinese player birdied the 16th and 17th in a late charge.
“I was definitely nervous but I think I kept my composure pretty well and obviously that start (to the final round) helped a lot,” said Puig, who only made two bogeys all week and none on championship Sunday.
The Australian PGA is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australia and the DP World Tour, which is starting its 2025/26 season just two weeks after Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai title.
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