{"id":821912,"date":"2026-11-02T17:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T17:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/821912\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T17:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T17:20:16","slug":"david-puig-i-have-no-liv-golf-regrets-but-i-had-to-quit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/821912\/","title":{"rendered":"David Puig: I have no LIV Golf regrets, but I had to quit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tAhead of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, one of LIV Golf\u2019s biggest talents has told TG why he decided to quit the league.<\/p>\n

Debate will rage on over the extent to which some players harmed their careers by joining LIV Golf, but David Puig is departing the league without even a hint of regret. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, everything has been amazing, right?\u201d Puig grins ahead of his debut at this week\u2019s Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship. \u201cWhen I signed I was a good amateur, but it definitely made me a better player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here playing this event and playing majors because of the player that LIV made me. I\u2019m extremely grateful and happy that I made that decision. But in my case, I thought it was time to move on and find something more consistent.\u201d <\/p>\n

Indeed, one of the next big talents on Spain\u2019s great golfing conveyor belt was one of the first to confirm his LIV career is over<\/a>. As the league battles for its future without the support of Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund, Puig has decided to commit to a full schedule on the DP World Tour in 2027 instead.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard stunned many within the game by leaving Arizona State early in his senior year to turn professional and join the breakaway in its inaugural season.<\/p>\n

At the time, the then 20-year-old was the ninth ranked amateur in the world and Puig made waves as the first player LIV had pinched from the college ranks. But Puig believes his acceleration into elite fields has had a huge impact on his development. He earned just shy of $30 million in prize money<\/a> across his four full seasons, while playing in eight majors and forging a pathway on the DP World Tour.<\/p>\n

Puig was one of nine LIV players who signed a deal this year to play more events on the \u2018Old World\u2019 circuit without incurring fines and bans. His intrepid season has been \u201creally solid\u201d, if unspectacular as he spent the summer battling a technical issue with his swing. Three top-five finishes on LIV and a T18 finish at the PGA Championship were glimpses of his impressive ball-striking talents. <\/p>\n

But it was a breakthrough victory at last November\u2019s BMW Australian PGA Championship<\/a> that has given Puig crucial breathing space during year where several of his LIV colleagues have been at risk of limbo. <\/p>\n

The win in Queensland has given him the platform to contend at this week\u2019s $9m DP World Tour Playoffs event<\/a>, but more importantly to use the circuit as a landing ground next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a good spot, having a full year next year here and being able to play full schedule,\u201d he tells TG after a practice round at Yas Links.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big thing for me, not knowing what was going to happen with LIV, major opportunities and world rankings. I just thought this was extremely more consistent and with plenty of more opportunities. If I would have been in a different position, who knows?<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I was in a position that I obviously deserved, right? Because of my win [in Australia] and the good year that I had. But it just totally made sense to me to have a full schedule here in Europe and just commit to that, knowing that if I played good, then I was able to get into the big events.\u201d<\/p>\n

It emerged last month that the DP World Tour will refuse membership for any player who joins LIV 2.0<\/a>, but Puig\u2019s decision came before this effective ultimatum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last few months have been difficult,\u201d he says. \u201cJust not knowing if we\u2019re going to play or not in certain events. You start thinking about it and it\u2019s just something that I didn\u2019t really want to deal with in the future. Knowing that here we had a full schedule and more consistent.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the past and not knowing if we\u2019re going to play certain events. Events got cancelled at the end and this and that. The stability, it just made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Puig won his first and, to date, only DP World Tour title at the 2025 BMW Australian PGA Championship. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The full season on the DP World Tour will offer Puig the chance to earn a PGA Tour membership, though it is unclear how many cards will be made available. Bosses at Wentworth and Ponte Vedra are still locked in talks over that crucial matter as the PGA Tour\u2019s overhaul takes shape, while Puig\u2019s challenge to progress Stateside will be made even more formidable by the large number of his LIV colleagues also converging on the DP World Tour. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a goal,\u201d he says. \u201cHopefully, I get there eventually. Good golf takes care of everything, so I\u2019m just focusing on that. Not really expecting much, just trying to perform the best I can. I know that if I perform at my best, I\u2019ll have a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those who remain at LIV would be ineligible for the 2027 Ryder Cup under strict DP World Tour rules, but Puig is also now dreaming of a place on Luke Donald\u2019s European team at Adare Manor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that I\u2019ve been thinking for my life, honestly,\u201d he says of his Ryder Cup hopes. \u201cBut the last two or three years, it\u2019s something that I know is possible if I play well. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just not trying to put a lot of pressure on myself, trying to perform the best I can and if I do that, hopefully I\u2019m going to be on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, one of LIV Golf\u2019s biggest talents has told TG why he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-821912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}