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 at age 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, 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 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.

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 Golf 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 No. 5 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 U.S. 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 Tour 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 Golf was one of the sweetest, as Grace won 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 2.

“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 Open Championship.

At the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in 2015 he held a share of the lead after 54 holes but ultimately battled to a T4 finish.

Fast forward to July 2017 and the 146th Open Championship 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 Saturday, Grace teed off at 4 over 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.

His record on the DP World Tour resulted in nine wins from 222 tournaments.

He had also achieved a career-best 10th place in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Grace enjoyed a stunning start with the LIV Golf League, 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 U.S. - the Portland Invitational.

By the end of the season, he was runner-up in the overall Individual Standings and stepped into the LIV Golf League in 2023 with Stinger GC.

It was another hugely successful term, Grace achieving five top-10 finishes from 13 events while Stinger GC won in Tulsa on their way to fifth place in the regular season.

Grace’s ninth place in the Individual Standings ensured he returned with Stinger for 2024.

Stinger GC captain Louis Oosthuizen brought him back for another year in 2025.

Branden Grace spoke about his swing and how to be successful off the tee on LIV Lessons in November of 2024.

“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 percent chance that I’m going to hit the fairway.”