European Tour: Getting Acquainted With Branden Grace

With the COVID-19 virus postponing all forms of professional golf for the foreseeable future, we are taking a look at some of this season’s stars of the European Tour. Next up is Branden Grace.

At the South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg, the first event of the calendar year, Branden Grace won for the ninth time on the European Tour. But who is Branden Grace?

Factfile – Branden Grace

Date of Birth: 20.05.1988

Nationality: South African

Turned Pro: 2007

Highest WR: 10th (February 2016)

Best RTD: 4th (2015)

ET Wins: 9 (2012 – Joburg Open, Volvo Golf Champions, Volvo China Open, Alfred Dunhill Links Championship; 2014 – Alfred Dunhill Championship; 2015 & 2016 – Commercial Bank Qatar Masters; 2017 – Nedbank Golf Challenge; 2020 – South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg)

Branden Grace was born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, and he went on to win the South Africa Amateur Stroke Play Championship at the age of 18. Less than a year later, he turned professional.

He became a regular on the Challenge Tour, the European second tier tour, and the Sunshine Tour, the South African-based golf tour.

Grace finished 35th on the Challenge Tour’s Order of Merit in his second season, 2008, including finishing in a tie for 2nd alongside Rafa Cabrera Bello at the Ypsilon Golf Challenge. The South African then earned his European Tour card for the 2009 season via Qualifying School.

After a couple of years of struggle, and having to earn his card through Qualifying School for a second time, Grace had his breakthrough year on the professional stage in 2012, winning five times worldwide.

He secured his first professional victory at the Joburg Open, an event co-sanctioned by the European Tour and the Sunshine Tour, before following it up with a win at the Volvo Golf Champions just seven days later. In doing so, Grace became the first player since Fred Couples in 1995 to take his first two victories in back-to-back weeks.

He then won the Volvo China Open in April, becoming the third South African to win three times on the European Tour in the same season, after Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

Grace continued his amazing year by winning the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final on the Sunshine Tour in September, before winning again on the European Tour a month later.

He took the win at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, breaking the scoring record, in part thanks to a round of 60 at Kingsbarns, tying the then-European Tour record for the low round. The South African won the Order of Merit on the Sunshine Tour for his performances that year.

A couple of 2nd place finishes came over the next couple of years. He lost out in a playoff to Phil Mickelson at the 2013 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, before finishing 2nd at the Volvo Golf Champions in 2014.

Grace then won three times in three months, starting with a victory at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in December 2014 to kick off the 2015 campaign on the European Tour. He then won the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters a month later, ahead of a win at the Dimension Data Pro-Am on the Sunshine Tour in February.

The South African continued his good form throughout the rest of the year, finishing inside the top five at both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, before having a perfect 5-0-0 week at the Presidents Cup, becoming only the fifth player in history to win all five of their matches in the team competition.

In January 2016, Grace became the first player in the twenty year history of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters to defend his title. Three months later, he took his first victory on the PGA TOUR, by winning the RBC Heritage, as he entered the top ten in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first and only time in his career.

In the summer of 2017, Grace set another golfing record, with his 62 at the British Open Championship at Royal Birkdale being the lowest ever round in a major championship. That November, he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge, his first Rolex Series win on the European Tour.

At the start of this year, Grace completed the South African major five by winning the South African Open hosted by the City of Johannesburg, having previously won the Joburg Open, Alfred Dunhill Championship, Dimension Data Pro-Am and the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

With the victory, he took the top spot on the Race to Dubai standings ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA, the first Rolex tournament of the 2020 campaign.

Grace has everything in his game to win a major, and become the eighth South African to do so, after Gary Player, Bobby Locke, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel.

At just 31 years of age, he has plenty of time left in his career, and a major championship will be the next thing to be ticked off his golfing list!