BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — Nerveless young Spaniard David Puig on Sunday became the first European to win the Australian PGA Championship since 1998, holding off a chasing pack led by China's Ding Wenyi to claim a maiden DP World Tour title.

LIV Golf's Puig went into the final day at Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane as joint leader, but asserted himself early and proved unflappable at the European-based circuit's 2026 season-opening event.

The 23-year-old nailed five birdies in an unblemished 66 to finish at 18-under par and become the first Spaniard to win the Australian PGA since the great Severiano Ballesteros in 1981.

The impressive 21-year-old Ding also had a 66 to finish at 16-under and another LIV player, Australian Marc Leishman (67), tied for third a shot further back with New Zealander Nick Voke (66).

The 2023 champion Min Woo Lee and New Zealand's Daniel Hillier were tied fifth on 14-under par, one ahead of Australian veteran Adam Scott.

"It feels amazing," said Puig, a good friend of tennis world No. 1 and fellow Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.

"I've really had a lot of close calls in a few events throughout this year and last year and I wasn't able to pull it through.”

"So it feels unbelievable, especially winning here in Australia. So I'm really, really excited and happy."

The last European to win the Kirkwood Cup was England's David Howell.

Puig is a player on the rise, finishing 10th on the 2025 LIV Golf rankings, having cut short his college career at Arizona State University to join the breakaway tour in 2022.

The victory was his third as a professional after two on the Asian Tour, most recently at the 2024 Malaysian Open.

His previous best on the DP World Tour was third at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship in January.

"I was pretty nervous to be fair," he said. "Especially thinking about the past a little bit, you know, what I could have done a little better. But I kept my composure really well."

Puig made a sensational start with birdies at two, three and four to move three clear of Leishman, Lee and fellow overnight leader Ricardo Gouveia of Portugal.

Birdies on the ninth by Leishman and playing partner Ding narrowed the gap to two.

But Puig responded by sinking a monster putt for his fourth birdie of the day at the par-three eighth to reclaim a three-shot buffer.

He made the turn with the same advantage and despite it slipping to two as Leishman, Lee and Ding made moves, he was resolute and kept his focus.