Johannesburg – Branden Grace produced his second top finish in Majors this season with a final round 69 to finish on 15-under to end in third place on his own in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, in Wisconsin, on Sunday.
Aussie Jason Day began the day with a two shot lead and always looked in control on his way to a near-faultless 67 to rise to 20 under for the week, and a three shot win over American Jordan Spieth in solo-second.
For Grace, 27, his third-place finish adds to his share of fourth he achieved at the US Open in June and signalled his Major arrival.
“I’m getting closer in the Majors, which I want to do,” said Grace after his round.
“I feel that the game is keeping up and the standard of golf that I’m playing is showing. And I don’t have to step down for these guys. Jason was just a tough competitor this week. He played some marvellous golf and I don’t think anybody would have caught him this week. But if those silly mistakes weren’t in there, you never know what would have been the finish. But it’s still a great week.”
The challenge of Grace took a heavy blow after the player had gone out in four under par, when disaster struck at the par four 10th hole. After his massive drive just found the rough some 35 yards short of the putting surface, Grace proceeded to hit his approach over the back of the green. From a difficult position down a slope and a bad lie, Grace made a mess of his chip which came back rolling towards his feet. A double-bogey was unavoidable, and from that point Grace was always going to struggle to catch the high-flying Day.
“I got off to the dream start out there, 4-under through nine, which was needed on a day like today,” said Grace.
“But I made a couple of silly mistakes around the corner. Disappointing double bogey on the 10 that got me back, too far back, and then it was just a grind coming in. But it’s a solid third, it’s still a great week, and there’s still a lot of positives, again, to take out of it. But it was a good week.”
Grace, a six-time European Tour winner, along with 29-year-old George Coetzee were the top South Africans on the leaderboard. Coetzee quietly compiled a final round 67 to finish on 12 under in a tie for seventh.
The performances of the pair eclipsed that of the much fancied South Africa trio of Ernie Els (25th), Louis Oosthuizen (30th) and Charl Schwartzel (37th).
Grace said it was a good feeling along with Coetzee to lead the SA challenge on the biggest stage.
“They have been the front runners for a long time now after Ernie and it’s nice for George and myself just to step it up and showing that this is where we want to play and give ourselves some chances. So, it’s going to be a tough grind now coming in with these guys and they’re going to start pushing as well.” – African News Agency (ANA).