Branden

Grace

Grace was born in Pretoria, South Africa in May 1988 and enjoyed playing several sports at school until at 15 he had a sit-down chat with his dad, who told him it was best to focus on one.

He developed his game at the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation. “They provide coaches, trainers, psychologists, all the necessary resources that helped me get to where I am today,” he told Golf Digest.

In 2006 he won the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship aged 17, keeping every round within par to finish 11-under, one shot ahead of nearest challenger Oliver Fisher.

After turning professional in 2007, Grace spent time on Europe’s second-tier tour, the Challenge Tour, and South Africa’s Sunshine Tour before earning his European Tour card for 2010 through qualifying school.

His first win as a pro came in the 2010 Coca-Cola Charity Championship on the Sunshine Tour, a three-round tournament where his overall score of 7-under was two strokes ahead of runners-up Ulrich van den Berg and Justin Walters.

Another successful tip at qualifying school saw him claim a European Tour card for 2012.

Grace blitzed through tournaments in 2012 capturing various titles across the European and Sunshine Tours, some of which were co-sanctioned.

In early January he won the Joburg Open – on both Tours – beating Jamie Elson by one Stroke. A week later he topped the leaderboard at the European Tour’s Volvo Golf Champions, edging past Ernie Els and Retief Goosen with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

Win number three on the European Tour arrived in April with success at the 2012 Volvo China Open in Tianjin. After finishing the tournament at 21-under, three strokes ahead of defending champion Nicolas Colsaerts, Grace said: “I thought my first win was around the corner, but to have three before May is unbelievable.”

The golfing world had sat up and taken notice of his achievements and in May he made his first appearance at the invitational Memorial Tournament, finishing T25 at Muirfield.

With September came a career-third Sunshine Tour victory at the Vodacom Origins of Golf and a week into October he conquered the 2012 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where more records fell.

It was his fourth European Tour title of the year, the most ever in one season for a player coming up through Q-School.

He won with a tournament record score of 22-under-par at Kingsbarns Golf Links in
Scotland having set a course record of 60 in his opening round – a mark which is yet to be beaten.

It was also his fifth title worldwide in 2012 and he ended the season top of the Sunshine Tour’s order of merit.

After a leaner couple of seasons, Grace got back to winning ways at the 2014-15 Alfred Dunhill Championship, played in December 2014.

His seven-stroke triumph ahead of fellow countryman and future LIV captain Louis Oosthuizen was his fifth on the European Tour and the sixth arrived a month later at January’s Qatar Masters.

In February he was booking Sunshine Tour win five with success at the Dimension Data Pro-Am.

Grace’s golf was still drawing admiring glances after his performance at the 2015 Presidents Cup, played at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.

His perfect record of five wins from five matches was just the second time it had been achieved by a member of the International side but could not prevent the US from winning 15½-14 ½.

In January 2016 he became the first player to successfully defend the Qatar Open, his seventh title on the European Tour.

After some promising results in some individual PGA events, Grace was entered for the 2016 PGA Tour and did not disappoint.

He landed his first PGA Tour win in April at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, South Carolina.

A final round 66 helped him keep Luke Donald and Russell Knox at arm’s length as he won by two strokes.

An eighth European Tour title was secured in November 2017 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

His final tournament victory before joining LIV was one of the sweetest, as Grace landed the co-sanctioned 2020 South African Open.

It was his ninth European Tour title and sixth recognised Sunshine Tour success.

Having started the day three strokes behind countryman Louis Oosthuizen at Randpark Golf Club in Johannesburg, a final round 62 saw Grace run out winner by the same margin.

“This means so much to any South African,” he said, “winning on home soil, the guys get so behind you and it’s such an emotional feeling.”

It was also a special family day as watching on were Grace’s wife Nieke and toddler son Roger who hadn’t yet turned two.

“He’s going to have a photo with the trophy,” Grace said, “and then it’s a good birthday wish to my wife today, she’s a birthday girl today so it’s a good birthday present.”

Grace had already established himself as a contender in the Majors before creating history during the 2017 British Open.

At the US Open at Chambers Bay in 2015 he held a share of the lead after 54 holes and was joint top of the leaderboard until a disastrous double-bogey on the 16th hole which saw him battling to a T4 finish by the end of the tournament.

Fast forward to July 2017 and the 146th British Open where Grace made a steady start with a 70 and a 74 which gave no indication of what he was about to unleash in the third round.

On the Saturday, Grace teed off four-over-par at the par-70 Royal Birkdale course and proceeded to rattle off eight-birdies on a flawless scorecard for an astonishing 62, the first time that had been achieved in a Major championship.

It earned him a special moment later that weekend too.

“I saw Gary Player on the Sunday evening, and he came and gave me a big hug and said congrats,” Grace said.

“He said it doesn’t matter if somebody else shoots a 62, you’ll always be the first.”

When Grace decided to sign up for the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational Series in 2022, he had played in 184 PGA Tour events, earning prize money of $12,296,547.

His record on the European Tour (now known as the DP World Tour) showed nine wins from 222 tournaments played with career money won of around $14.6million.

He had also achieved a career-best 10th place on the official world golf ranking.

Grace enjoyed a stunning start to life with LIV, finishing third in the opening event in London while his all-South African team Stinger GC took the team title.

Three weeks later he was champion of the first LIV Golf event to be staged in the US - the Portland Invitational.

By the end of the season, he had bagged the $8m prize for being runner-up in the overall individual standings and stepped into the LIV Golf League in 2023 with Stinger.

It was another hugely successful term, Grace achieving five top-10 finishes from 13 events while Stinger won in Tulsa on their way to fifth place in the regular season before being crowned 2023 champions at the Team Championship finale in Dallas.

Grace’s ninth place in the individual standings ensured he returned with Stinger for 2024.

That season saw a drop-off in form, with a T20 at Greenbrier in August being his best return in the individual championship.

Although ending the year in the Drop Zone in 51st place, he was given a lifeline by Stinger captain Oosthuizen, who signed him up again for 2025 on a “business case” agreement.

Branden Grace spoke about his swing and how to be successful off the tee on LIV Lessons last November.

“Go into the shot with your grip already set,” he advised.

Grace is very much an advocate of going for accuracy over power with your golf swing, for better control.

“Something I like doing is move the ball position a little bit back and get a little bit more narrow,” he said.

“It probably flies only 265 in the air, but it still runs out another 30 so I’m still going to get it to 295 or around the 300.

“I know I’ve got a 90% chance that I’m going to hit the fairway.”

Grace signed a deal with Callaway in 2011 and was still using their clubs when he shot the first ever 62 at a Major championship at the 2017 British Open.

He favored low-spin drivers and ahead of the tournament swapped his 3-wood for a utility 2-iron.

His bag of Callaway clubs for that historic round started with a GBB Epic Sub Zero driver (9-degrees) with Fuji Six Tour 60x shaft. 

Replacing his 3-wood was an Apex Utility 2-iron and 3-iron with True Temper Project X 6.5 shafts. The remainder were X-Forged 13 Irons (4 to pitching wedge) also with True Temper Project X 6.5 shafts.

His wedge set was the Mack Daddy 2 Tour Grind Wedges, (52, 56 and 60-degrees) with True Temper Project X 6.5 shafts. His trusted putter was the Odyssey Works Jailbird mini putter and his ball of choice was the Titleist Pro V1x.

There was renewed interest in his bag in 2021 when Grace tested the AutoFlex shaft made by Dumina Co at the Valero Texas Open.

Since playing on LIV Grace has discovered the Ping 7-wood and feels it is a more consistent performer than the long irons.

“I’ve hated fairway woods my whole career,” he told LIV Lessons.

“But now I’ve found these pings that I actually hit really good and now it’s one of my favorite clubs.

“It’s something that’s really helped me in my game, particularly on the longer distances where hitting a 4-iron and a 3-iron gets a little bit inconsistent.”