Fireballs GC's David Puig has become the latest LIV golfer to book his spot at The Open Championship after winning the Malaysian Open by two shots on Sunday.
Promising Spaniard, Puig follows the likes of Joaquin Niemann and Dean Burmester in securing a highly-coveted tee time at the 152nd Open in July via one of the Open Qualifying Series events.
South African, Burmester lifted the Joburg Open in November to seal his place at Royal Troon while the Chilean golfer won the Australian Open a week later to do the same.
Not content with sneaking in to The Open via a second or third-place result, Puig left nothing to chance by winning this week's Asian Tour event on 23-under at The Mines Resort & Golf Club. His triumphant total of just 261 arrived courtesy of consecutive 62s across his bogey-free third and final rounds.
However, for large parts of Friday it appeared as though Puig would miss out on his aim of qualifying for The Open after hovering around the cutline. However, the 22-year-old eventually squeezed through to the weekend on the number.
And in prime scoring conditions at The Mines, Puig put his foot down and drove off into the sunset to ensure his dream became a reality. By winning the Seagram Trophy, Puig followed in the footsteps of some of his LIV peers, such as Lee Westwood and Louis Oosthuizen. Vijay Singh has also won this event.
Speaking to the Asian Tour's media team, Puig said: “It feels great, weird feeling for sure. We almost missed the cut. I was kind of playing good, but I kind of messed up.
"We actually finished round two good, and the weekend was just insane man. I mean 18 birdies, no bogeys, in 36 holes was unbelievable. And getting that Open spot is super cool, I came here for that.”
The 22-year-old, who claimed just his second professional victory out in Malaysia after coming from three back on Sunday, was joined by Jeunghun Wang and Denwit Boriboonsub after Wang shot a final-round 61 to claim the second qualifying place on 21-under-par.
Meanwhile, Boriboonsub took the final qualifying place courtesy of his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking after finishing in a tie for third place with America's John Catlin on 20-under-par.
