Branden Grace’s Puerto Rico Open victory this past Sunday blasted him back into the top 100 in the world, making him eager to capitalise on his recent success.
Sunday’s triumph in Florida was Grace’s first win on the PGA Tour in nearly five years and despite winning the SA Open in January last year, his world ranking tumbled for a big part of 2020.
Grace starts the new week in 83rd position in the Official World Golf Rankings as a result, jumping a total of 64 spots from 147th.
READ: Branden Grace wins Puerto Rice Open
WATCH: Grace secures impressive win
‘This changes everything,’ Grace said on Sunday evening.
‘The last couple of weeks I have actually been playing nicely. I have started heading in the right direction. I played well at Pebble [Beach Pro-Am]. I am really fortunate Tiger [Woods] and his team gave me an invite last week to give me the opportunity to play.
‘It gave me a lot of confidence coming into this week and it just changes everything. Now I can pick again for a while and I can get a lot of the big stuff, and move up the world rankings. That’s where I want to be and competing against the big boys.’
The victory gives the 32-year-old a number of exceptions at upcoming PGA Tour events like the PLAYERS Championship, the PGA Championship and a number of the invitational events, starting with this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
WATCH: Grace in tears after win
It was an emotional experience for Grace, however, who dedicated the win to his late father, who sadly passed away from Covid-19 a mere five weeks ago.
‘It was an emotional day. I thought about him a hell of a lot out there. The last tee shot, I was really struggling. I spoke to my my wife today and she said that my dad’s watching over me and he’ll give me the guidance I needed, and he did,’ Grace added.
Grace also received a decent payout worth $540,000, which converts to a whopping R8,126, 287.20.
