South Africa’s Branden Grace has been added to the US Open field, which tees off at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York on Thursday.
Grace has been named as a late replacement for Scottie Scheffler, who had to withdraw from the year’s second Major after testing positive for Covid-19.
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The USGA released a statement early on Monday to say the 24-year-old Scheffler, who enjoyed a very successful rookie season on the PGA Tour, is asymptomatic but will not compete this week out of concern for everyone else.
‘We are sorry to lose a member of the USGA family in this year’s US Open field,’ said John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director, championships. ‘Scottie has had a phenomenal rookie season and we look forward to welcoming him back to the US Open Championship for many years to come.’
Grace was the first alternate option given his Official World Golf Ranking of 92nd and managed top-five finishes at the 2015 and 2016 editions of the US Open.
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He also won the South African Open at Randpark Golf Club in January and secured a T29 finish at this past weekend’s Safeway Open in Napa.
Grace joins Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Justin Harding, Shaun Norris, Louis Oosthuizen, JC Ritchie and Erik van Rooyen as one of the seven South Africans in the field.
