LIV GOLF INVITATIONAL SERIES: CHICAGO

September 15, 2022

David Puig

Rich Harvest Farms

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome David Puig. He is on Team Torque and this is his first event as a professional. Welcome, David, and over to you guys.

Q. David, have you talked to Matt at all about turning pro, and what was his reaction?

DAVID PUIG: Yeah, I talked to him probably a month and a half ago. I explained to him my situation, and he was very supportive the whole time. He knew it was a pretty big step for me turning professional. It was obviously a very tough decision for me to leave ASU a year earlier, but as I said, he was very supportive, and I'm glad that I have his back every time I need it.

Q. How about your teammates? Did you have a chance to say anything to them?

DAVID PUIG: Yeah, same thing. I talked to all of them. I called all of them. Yeah, they've also been very supportive. I still live with three of my ex-teammates, which I consider them my friends, so yeah, they're nice, and pretty much every person at ASU is happy for me and very supportive, so I'm really happy for that.

Q. For you, why now?

DAVID PUIG: Why now? You know, I actually think I had a pretty good amateur career, and I didn't get a lot of -- or basically just one opportunities to play with pros before LIV even started. LIV was very supportive, and they gave me two exemptions as an amateur, which I really appreciated them a lot.

They also gave me an opportunity to play against the best players in the world, so it was obviously a tough decision to leave ASU, but it was a pretty easy decision to join LIV.

Q. What's the nervous level like for you? You have already two events that you've played out here, so are you nervous at all, or is it just another event for you now that you're playing for money?

DAVID PUIG: I'm not nervous. You know, at the end when you play golf, it's pretty much every time the same. You've just got to hit a golf ball and just try to make as less shots possible.

Obviously first tournament as a pro, I've got some expectations that I want to do or get, like I don't know, play a round under par, which I still never did in LIV, or had a chance to win or help my team to win, too.

But I'm not nervous. It's just what I do every day. I mean, I've practiced for this, to try to be one of the best players in the world. Yeah, I'm not nervous, I'm just excited to start going.

Q. Have you had a lot of fellow competitors come up to you and talk to you on the range and kind of welcome you as a pro?

DAVID PUIG: Yes. Yeah, everyone here has been very supportive. I knew some of the players but not all of them, but anytime I see any player, they say "congrats" or something like that, which is very helpful.

Yeah, I'm grateful to be here and to be a big family with all these players.

Q. You played a couple of events before turning pro. What did you see in LIV Golf that helped you make the decision that you were going to go with LIV?

DAVID PUIG: I mean, as I said, it was a pretty easy decision. First of all, all the staff they have is really amazing. Obviously when you come from the amateur world, if you take college out, you've got to book your flights and book your hotel reservations, call to the pro shop to book a tee time, things like that.

Here in LIV they take care of you really good, which is awesome, and then the courses we play, they're really good, too. I played two courses and now this one, Rich Harvest Farms. All of the three courses were really good, so that is also helpful.

And then the players. We started in London with a pretty good amount of really good players, and every day it's growing. Now the field we have here at LIV is crazy, and it's really good.

Q. Is there any specific player in the entire field who has really taken you under his wings and given you advice whenever you have reached out?

DAVID PUIG: You know, this has been my third event and third team, so I shared a team with Sergio and James Piot and Jed Morgan in the first tournament, and obviously James and Jed were kind of new guys, too, like me, but Sergio was very helpful. He also speaks Spanish, so it was pretty easy to talk to him and just get to know him a little better and follow his advice.

You know, Martin and Graeme McDowell in the second tournament, they're European legends, guys that I've been following since I'm a kid, especially on those Ryder Cups, where both of them were like a pretty big deal for the European team. Yeah, it's pretty easy just to learn from them.

Q. Then here with Joaco, I had the opportunity to play with him two rounds, and he's awesome. He plays really good golf. It's crazy how good he plays.

Yeah, it's easy to follow their advice and just try to learn from them.

Q. You're only one of a few golfers to have played this golf course multiple times before. Talk about your takeaways last year from the Palmer Cup and what you know about the golf course so far?

DAVID PUIG: Yeah, it's a really good golf course. I played the Palmer Cup, as you said, last year, so I played this golf course around 10 times now, so yeah, I know every hole pretty good.

Yeah, I would say you've got to -- especially with pretty much every golf course, obviously, but in this one you have to drive the ball pretty good, and if you're in position, I would say it's not very long, so there's plenty of birdie opportunities, but greens can get a little tough if you're not in the right spot. Even if you can hit it on the green, lag putts can be pretty tough.

Yeah, those are my points I would say.

Q. And shotgun start you don't typically see in college golf. What are you expecting as you start on hole No. 9 tomorrow?

DAVID PUIG: You know, I mean, try to hit as many greens in regulation as I can and give me birdie chances. Yeah, just play one hole at a time. I start on 9, there's guys starting on every hole, so the scores can get a little different, but at the same time we all play all 18 holes, so it really doesn't matter.

Q. While you were at ASU, did you look into getting any PGA TOUR exemptions? Did you write to the Phoenix Open or anybody else for that?

DAVID PUIG: Not really. At least for what I know, getting into the Phoenix Open is pretty tough, especially when a guy is from Spain. I would say, I don't know, Preston, one of my teammates, he had the chance to play in the Phoenix Open, and he deserves it. He's an awesome guy, awesome player, but I think when he was 10 years old he was already a member at TPC Scottsdale or helped with the tournament somehow or something like that.

I think that's how he got it, and as I said, he deserved it 100 percent, but it's tough. Kevin Yu, he was a really great player at ASU never had the chance, and I think the last amateur that competed there was Jon Rahm when he was playing awesome at ASU.

Yeah, and then on the other tournaments, being from Spain, I would say it's just pretty tough because I would say they'd rather give the exemptions to people that are local. So yeah.