Grace hopes to reverse a surprising down year with a Promotions victory
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Of the 93 players competing in this week’s LIV Golf Promotions, Branden Grace has accomplished one thing none of the others can match.
He’s the only player in the field to have won an individual LIV Golf tournament.
RELATED: LIV Golf Promotions fact sheet | Full field list
The 36-year-old South African claimed LIV Golf’s first event on American soil, capturing the individual title in Portland in 2022 as a member of Stinger GC. It was the high point of a terrific year in which he finished second to two-time major winner Dustin Johnson in the season-long Individual Championship.
Grace remained among LIV Golf’s top performers in 2023, finishing ninth overall in points. But this season, his results inexplicably went south. His best result was a tie for 15th, and he managed to acquire top-24 points in just three of 13 regular-season starts.
That’s why he’s in the Promotions tournament, having been relegated after finishing in the Drop Zone, 51st in point. A win this week would assure his return to Louis Oosthuizen’s team, since the Promotions winner earns a full-time spot in the league in 2025.
Otherwise, the Stingers could present a business case to the league to retain him. But as of now, there are no guarantees. That’s why Grace wants to determine his own fate by winning this week.
“I didn’t have a good year,” he said. “That’s all on me. So now it’s about putting your head down and just playing golf.”
Recent signs are encouraging.
Beginning with his final round of the LIV Golf regular season, a 2-under 68 in Chicago, Grace has produced a streak of 24 consecutive rounds of par or better, with 22 of those rounds under par.
In his two singles matches at the Team Championship in Dallas, he broke par in beating Adrian Meronk in 19 holes in the quarterfinals, and also played well in losing 1 up in a tight match against Patrick Reed in the semifinals. On the final day when the tournament format reverted to stroke play, Grace shot a 7-under 65 – the second lowest score that round – to lead the Stingers to the top of Tier 2 and fifth place overall.
He’s continued to build on that form after the LIV Golf season. Among his 20 rounds in his last five worldwide starts:
• 18 rounds under par, 2 rounds at even par
• Collective total of 67 under
• A 9-under 63 in the final round at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Finals on the Sunshine Tour
• An 8-under 63 in the third round of last week’s PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers, followed by a closing 65
• Two top-6 finishes – including last weekend at Riyadh Golf Club – and two other top 20s
“I've played really nicely, working on the right stuff,” Grace said. “The hardest thing about this game is staying patient. I feel like the game is coming on, the putting is coming on, the driving is coming on, everything is improved, and I think the scores show it as well. …
“Everything is there, the solidness is there, the confidence is growing.”
That’s good to hear, especially after a down season that seemed to come out of nowhere. Grace had been one of the most consistent players in LIV Golf the first two years. Certainly, his Stingers teammates came to rely on him as a steady producer.
So it’s tough to explain 2024. Of his first 38 rounds prior to the last one in Chicago, Grace was essentially batting .500: 18 rounds under par, 18 rounds over par, two rounds at even par. A percentage great for baseball but hardly worth celebrating in golf. His 70.8 stroke average left him tied for 45th among the 54 full-time players in LIV Golf this season.
“Listen, the toughest thing when you go through a season like this is the harder you try, almost the worse it gets,” Grace said. “And it's not the harder you try meaning practice-wise and things, it's just the more pressure you put on yourself to perform. And I think that's when you fall behind, that's kind of what you do. It's human.
“So it was kind of a big thing a couple of months ago, had a good talk with my wife and just kind of: Where are we? What am I doing? And it's so hard to figure out. And I made a decision to change my caddie and got Johan [Swanepoel] on the bag. It's just been a big process. We know we are working on the right thing.”
Meanwhile, his Stinger teammates never wavered in their support for him. A close-knit group of South Africans, they knew he was struggling. They also knew he would fight like hell to pull himself out of it. Given that Grace was the team’s best performer the first two years, they were certainly ready to give him all the time needed to find his way again.
“Louis told me, ‘Gracie, you never gave up once this year. You kept on practicing, you kept on being there, you kept on supporting, you kept on having your feeling in the team.’ So that's all I can do. But I feel the last three months has been a big turning point,” Grace said.
With a first-round bye – an advantage all five relegated players in the field received this week – Grace doesn’t have to play until Friday. Provided he advances as one of the top 20 players into Saturday, he’ll then have a grueling 36-hole finale to claim the lone available LIV Golf spot up for grabs.
He has the confidence. He’s in form. In a season of frustration, ending on a high note is now a distinct possibility.