GALLERY: Grace pulls off a magnificent win
Grace achieved the first of his goals set out by himself for 2020 by winning the SA Open.
BRANDEN Grace gave a significant display of golf, but it was his pinpoint putting that made it possible to notch up a win at the South African Open.
The SA Open which was hosted by the City of Joburg was held at Randpark Golf club from January 9 to 12 where the front runners on each of these days changed hands.
Grace achieved the first of his goals set out by himself for 2020 by winning the SA Open.
Grace won the Open by three shots on 21 under par to close with a 62 following a stunning duel with defending champion Louis Oosthuizen on Randpark’s Firethorn course.
Oosthuizen took second place on 18 under par with a 68 that included a hole-in-one on the par-three eighth hole. England’s Marcus Armitage finished third on 16 under with a 69. Talented 18-year-old Jayden Schaper from Benoni won the Freddie Tait Cup for finishing as the leading amateur in an incredible sixth place overall on 13 under par with a closing 70.
“I’ve now won everything I want to win in South African golf, and it feels so good,” said a delighted Grace.
“This was the one that was missing – the second oldest tournament in the world and with so much history.”
Grace’s victory also secured him a place in The Open at Royal St George’s later this year, with Armitage and Jaco Ahlers taking the other two spots that were on offer from this championship to the leading players not yet exempt for the Major.
But most importantly, after a period of changes on so many fronts, Grace feels he’s back on track.
“You know, my dad had a heart-attack a year back, then we were building a house, I became a father, so there was a lot going on. But I’ve made some changes in management, I’ve got a new caddie and I feel in a really good place at the moment, and this was the place to kick it off.”
Grace was three shots off the lead of Oosthuizen going into the final round. But as Oosthuizen struggled to make anything happen and parred his first seven holes, Grace came out firing early on. After a bogey to start, Grace made three birdies and an eagle in the next five holes.
“I needed to come out hot. I knew I needed a low one. I saw the conditions were good for it and the golf course was set up for it. I also knew Louis doesn’t make mistakes out there, so I knew it would be tough. The bogey wasn’t great to start, but when I made birdie on three and eagle on four I knew I was right back in it. And then the blade was just hot. The hole just looked bigger and bigger from there on,” said Grace.
Then came a moment of magic from Oosthuizen. The defending champion aced the par-three eighth hole to take the lead on 17 under par. It didn’t last long though as Grace rolled in a huge birdie putt on the par-four ninth to tie Oosthuizen for the lead. Then he made four straight birdies from the 11th hole to surge away from the field and on to victory.
“It makes it special beating a player of Louis’s calibre. It was special for me to finish it off the way I did this year,” Grace said.
And Grace can cross off another goal this week. Sitting in that American airport, he also declared, “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”.
On the 18th green on Sunday, young Roger ran on to hug his dad – the South African Open champion.
Keith Horne from Eye of Africa, ran in 69 65 69 71 for a total of 274 together with some of the other players.
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