Branden Grace, the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge champion, opens up on why his form has taken a dip and how he is getting back to the top, writes MICHAEL VLISMAS.
You don’t suddenly forget how to be a top-10 player in the world. Just like you don’t suddenly forget how to become the first player in European Tour history to win your first four titles on that Tour in the same year. Or how to shoot the lowest round in men’s Major championship history.
Branden Grace will never forget these things. And you shouldn’t either.
If there is anything you should remember as Grace looks at a disappointing world ranking and a past season which does not reflect his ability, it’s simply this: life happens. Even for professional golfers.
Sometimes, even an elite athlete who swings golf clubs in the most beautiful way we can imagine, and who plays shots even Tiger Woods admires (yes, Grace once played such a great shot that Woods asked him to break it down for him), has some very normal life moments that will force a career pause.
‘It’s called fatherhood. ‘Things change when you have a wife and then you have a child,’ says Grace.
‘It’s the most normal thing in the world. But when you exist in the stratosphere of sporting excellence where any performance tracker will give you the numbers of your game in the finest detail, you have to explain ‘normal’ in ways that don’t always add up on the golf course. But they count volumes in life outside the ropes.
‘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 then you have a child. Life changes.
‘People don’t realise how different things are. When it’s just you, or you and your wife, as a professional golfer you pack up and go. It’s one or two suitcases and golf clubs and you go. Now it’s about baby and nannies. It’s a lot more than it was. And I wouldn’t change it for the world.
But it’s hard making the move to the US and settling in. You need a support base around you. You’re in the deep end. You can only rely on friends for so much. Life changes.’
And that’s when you sit down with Ernie Els, who knows a bit about what happens when golf and life intersect at that point between Majors and the autism of your son.
‘Ernie is such an inspiration to me. I’ve gotten to know him really well over the past four years. We live around the corner from him in the US. He’s one of those guys who when you speak to him, you can see how much he loves golf. If you asked me now whether I would want to play the senior Tour one day, well, I don’t know. But Ernie just wants to keep on going. He’s got the ultimate love for golf and it’s so inspiring to see that. He’s built an empire in golf and done incredible things for autism. Whenever I need to speak to somebody, he’s one of the first I go to.’
Or Johann Rupert.
‘He gave me one of my first invites, at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, to start my career and you don’t forget that. That’s why I always go back and play that event. I feel it’s important to do those things. You have to remember to give back.’
And then you remember: ‘When you go through a slump you realise what you’ve achieved and remember how good you are.
‘I know I’ve been in the top 10 in the world and won tournaments, and it makes you hungry. You remember it and keep your head down and grind. I feel I’m very close and am maybe one round away from getting in the groove again. A lot of people take time away from golf but,
for me, it’s important to keep playing. It doesn’t matter whether I miss 10 cuts in a row. The hardest part during that is not to make rash decisions. You think it’s only one or two bad weeks, and the next thing it’s six or seven months down the line. But you never know when your next top 10 or your next win will be around the corner.
‘At the moment, it’s really important for me to get my base in place. By that I mean the right coaches and 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.’
It’s this clarity of thought, and the way Branden Grace knows how to work through the stages in his career, that confirm in your mind that when he does pivot from where he is now, it’s going to be big.
Gary Player knows it.
‘He’s definitely got it,’ says Player of Grace’s ability to win Majors. Player, more than anybody, knows guts and determination when he sees it. And Grace felt it when he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge in 2017 and Gary Player hugged him on that 18th green.
‘It’s the biggest event I’ve won. I’ve won on the PGA Tour, but as a South African that is the event you watch the most and want to win the most. It’s such an emotional place to win it and there’s so much history in that tournament. You really want to win it. I’m fortunate enough
to have done it.
‘And to have Gary Player there is so special. He’s there from the start of the week to the end. As South African golfers we all know what that tournament means to him. We all know what he does for golf worldwide and for charity. He put golf on the map for South Africans. He gave us that target to aim for. I always enjoy seeing him there at Sun City. He’s there to greet you on the 1st tee. You don’t see a lot of other legends of the game doing that around the world.
‘When you grow up, you wish for the opportunity to play at a tournament like the Nedbank Golf Challenge, never mind win it. And then to get to the point where you can call somebody like Gary Player a friend. You wish for these things, and it happened really quickly for me. You’re
top 10 in the world, you’re playing on the PGA Tour against the world’s best, and then you win “Africa’s Major”. That’s a fairytale for me.’
But there are others who also know it.
‘He’s not scared. He’s had a taste of the Majors and I think if he wins one he’ll win a few,’ says Ricci Roberts, Els’ longtime caddie.
And Grace himself knows it.
‘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.
‘My first step it to win again – wherever that may be. I need to get that feeling back. 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. These last few weeks at the end of the year are always exciting. I feel I can give it a push and get a victory before the end of the year. If I can win one of my last events, suddenly your goals change. I like going in steps and this kind of mindset works for me.’
And having ticked the box of ‘Africa’s Major’, there’s also the matter of the South African Open.
‘If I win it, I’ve won everything in South African golf I’ve ever wanted to win. That would be special. And I’ll try again next year. I love coming back to South Africa to play. When you come back home, you get that incredible love from the South African fans and you just feel comfortable hitting shots again.’
And that tees up 2020 and Grace’s expectations. Expectations that need to be balanced with his ultimate passion for golf, to win Majors, to be No 1 in the world, and his overriding passion to be a great husband and an even greater father.
‘If you told me tomorrow I can’t hit another golf shot, so be it. But it you told me that somehow things would have to change with my family, I’d say no ways. They mean the world to me. My wife and my son are 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.’
And then you understand, really understand, what Player means when he says, ‘He’s got it.’ Because Grace is driven by forces beyond what a FlightScope can ever tell you in pure numbers.
In his mind, there is a new base from which to start building.
He’s the same golfer who Padraig Harrington declared was the one he wanted to play with, saying, ‘I’d love to know what makes him tick.’ The same golfer who in 2012 had such a breakout year and loved being around Louis Oosthuizen and his family and their children, and used it to carry him to victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews.
Who said that week, ‘Outside the golf, I played with the kids. It really helped me relax. Waking up in the morning and hearing his little girls laughing made me feel like I had no worries in the world.’
And who also gave a glimpse that week of where his own heart was headed when he said, ‘I’m in a pretty serious relationship and that’s nice. It’s good to get your mind on other things and not just golf. A lot of guys fall into the habit of thinking only about golf. You need that time away from the game to clear your head and think of other things.’
He’s the same golfer who that year played a shot on the 14th hole of the South Course at Firestone Country Club. A shot that stunned Tiger Woods, his playing partner. ‘I hit my tee shot into the fairway bunker on the right,’ Grace explains. ‘It was one of those where the ball was pretty close to the lip. The only realistic option I had was to take a sand-wedge and hit it out. But I was about five or six under par and when you get on a roll like that you think you can do anything. I hit an 8-iron to 12 feet from the hole. Tiger then walked over and said it’s one of the best shots he’s ever seen. He asked me how I played it. I was like, “Are you joking? You’ve hit shots like this to win Majors and now you’re asking me how I did that in a normal tournament.” It’s moments like that I’ll never forget.’
You don’t just suddenly forget those things. And Branden Grace hasn’t.
