The SA Open trophy stayed on home soil as one of South Africa’s most popular golfers, Branden Grace, returned to form with a bang, writes GARY LEMKE.
It was around Guy Fawkes last year that Branden Grace told us to expect fireworks from him. Winless since the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge, when he sunk a monster putt on the 16th to all but secure the title at Sun City, he warned Compleat Golfer he was on the brink of producing the form that had carried him to No 10 in the world in February 2016.
And on Randpark’s Firethorn Course, he fired a final-round 62 to rip the SA Open trophy out of Louis Oosthuizen’s grasp and win a tournamentfor the first time since becoming a father.
‘Things change when you have a wife and a child,’ Grace told this magazine in November. ‘You become a father and you realise life is not just about golf any more. We are selfish as golfers. It’s a habit you get into at a young age. You know you have to practise and play, and it’s you against the rest of the world. Then things change when you marry the woman of your dreams and you have a child. Life changes.’
However, you never forget what got you into that blissful situation in the first place and what helped you become the financially comfortable person you are at the age of 31 – winning golf tournaments.
‘My first step is to win again – wherever that may be. I need to get that feeling back,’ he said. ‘This is the first time in five years I’ve dropped out of the top 100 on the World Ranking. I need to get back there and start making realistic goals again. Now it’s just about winning again.
‘I know that if I win the SA Open I’ve won everything in South African golf I’ve ever wanted to win. That would be special for me. I love coming back to South Africa to play. When you come back home, you get that incredible love from the fans and you just feel comfortable hitting shots again.
‘My wife and my son are the most important in my world. And maybe one week soon I’ll be able to lift my boy up at the end of a tournament I’ve won, and he’ll be proud of his dad.’
Randpark is where it all clicked, with his wife watching on her birthday with their son. It was on the greens where the SA Open was won and lost. Oosthuizen had looked imperious all week and after 54 holes had been one shot ahead of England’s Marcus Armitage, who had come into the tournament ranked 1 386 in the world, while Grace was three shots behind.
However, while Grace had a tough day hitting the fairways, his Odyssey putter was glowing red hot, recording 22 putts in 18 holes. They were like heat-seeking missiles, arrowing in from virtually everywhere on the putting surface, followed by a fist pump to highlight their importance.
‘It was an amazing round and an amazing win. I don’t think I’ve ever played a round of golf when the putter’s been that hot,’ he said. Included in his round were nine successive one-putts.
Oosthuizen’s putter, on the other hand, was ice cold, taking 34 putts – with not a single one-putt – from the 17 holes he had to use it, having shot into a two-stroke lead with 11 holes remaining after holing his 7-iron tee shot at the 193m 8th. In total, Oosthuizen made only one bogey in the tournament – at the 16th in the second round – but only one final-round birdie, which ultimately cost him his chance to be the first player since Trevor Immelman in 2004 to win back-to-back SA Opens.
The number 62 is becoming important in Grace’s career, having also posted a men’s Major-record 10 under par in the third round of the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. The South African has been desperate to put two winless years behind him – although he has been at pains to say he has needed to stay patient.
‘At the moment, it’s really important for me to get my base in place,’ he told Michael Vlismas in November. ‘By that I mean the right coaches and for me to start enjoying my golf again. You get down on yourself because you know you’re better than this. But I like to keep on playing and work through it. I really believe the four-foot putts I’m missing now will make me stronger. And I know deep down inside that one day I’m going to have a four-foot putt to win a Major and I’ll make it. You have to stay patient. The toughest thing in golf is patience. It’s easy to be patient when you’re finishing in the top five. It’s a lot harder when you’re just making cuts.’
The SA Open was the ninth European Tour success for Grace, joining Oosthuizen on that number. It was also the 151st South African success on that Tour dating back to 1972, and featuring 41 golfers. Ahead of the pair are Charl Schwartzel (11), Retief Goosen (14) and Ernie Els (28). That’s the kind of company he is in. He’s also the odd one out in that group, having not won a Major.
He’s a streaky player who has often been tipped as someone who can be the first South African to win a Major championship since 2012, when Els picked up his fourth.
‘That’s the main thing for me – to win Majors. I know I’m good enough. I also want to be No 1 in the world. I believe I can achieve that. Can I do that now? No. There are a lot of things that need to happen before I can get there.’
In 2012 Grace enjoyed the finest year of his career, winning four times on the European Tour. Only Els, in 2003, has achieved that number of victories and Grace has started the South African ball rolling for 2020.
The victory at Randpark also secured him an automatic entry to this year’s Open Championship at Royal St George’s, brought his world ranking inside the top 100 again and has given him momentum to being selected for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Oosthuizen and Grace were the two automatic picks for Team South Africa for the 2016 Rio Olympics but both made themselves unavailable due to fears over the Zika virus rampaging through the country, with Grace saying that he and his
wife were thinking about parenthood. ‘Although it was a huge goal of mine to represent my country at the Olympics, we are getting married in November and hoping to start a family in the near future, so I must put the health of my family first,’ he said at the time.
Rio received rave reviews from those golfers who did take part – with Britain’s Justin Rose winning the men’s gold medal – and before this year’s SA Open Oosthuizen declared himself available for Tokyo.
‘It is in my plans for this year,’ Oosthuizen said. ‘If I’m picked I’ll be going. It’s going to be a bit difficult, scheduling-wise, with the Games being staged between The Open and the FedEx, but this is the one event I want to go to and say I played in the Olympics.’
The field in Tokyo will have 60 players and Oosthuizen is likely to be the leading South African when selection is made. There would be space for another, though. The top 15 world-ranked players are eligible, with a limit of four from one country. Beyond the top 15, players will be selected on the Official World Golf Ranking, with a maximum of two from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.
Grace’s downturn of form in 2018 and 2019 saw him overlooked for The Presidents Cup at the end of last year,
with Oosthuizen being the only South African on Els’ International team. Should he follow up an emotional victory with a streak similar to 2012, an invitation for Tokyo would loom large.
