Grace aims to end title drought at CIMB Classic
PETALING JAYA: South African golfer Branden Grace has never failed to end the year with at least one title in the past three seasons.
With just three months left this year, the 29-year-old is determined to end his title drought by targeting the CIMB Classic when he returns to the TPC Kuala Lumpur for his third appearance.
Grace – a winner of 13 titles worldwide, including seven European Tour victories – was joint 17th in his CIMB Classic debut in 2015. Last year, he was joint 33rd.
The world No. 42 hopes to be third time lucky, declaring: “I’ll be going over with the aim of winning it.
“I enjoyed my previous outings in the CIMB Classic. I look forward to returning to TPC Kuala Lumpur, which is a wonderful golf course.”
Grace stamped his mark at the British Open in July when he became the first man to shoot the magical 62 during the third round at Royal Birkdale.
That led him to finish joint sixth – his fifth top-10 in the Majors in the last three seasons.
In 2012, he also etched his name as the first player in European Tour history to win four titles in the same season.
Grace is only the fifth player to achieve a perfect 5-0-0 (five wins) record at the Presidents Cup, where he represents the International Team.
He will be hoping to keep the record intact when he joins his International teammates to take on the United States in the 12th edition of the team match play competition today.
“Obviously to follow a 5-0 is really tough,” said Grace ahead of the battle at the Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.
“But you know, it just kind of shows you that you’ve done it and you can do it again.”
The other Presidents Cup members who will head for the CIMB Classic in two weeks’ time are Americans Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed, India’s Anirban Lahiri, Argentinian Emiliano Grillo, Canada’s Adam Hadwin, Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas, South Korea’s Kim Si-woo and Grace’s compatriots Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen.