Locals ready for big SA Open field
MASSIVE: 240-STRONG FIELD MAKES WINNING TOUGH
Oosthuizen and Grace eager to add SA Open to their CV.
The South African Open may have an expanded field of 240 golfers at Randpark Golf Club this week, but any suggestion that it is a subsidiary event for the country’s biggest stars was scotched by Branden Grace yesterday.
Grace is one of seven players ranked inside the top-100 in the world rankings who will be teeing it up from today on Randpark’s two courses, and, having been runner-up at Glendower in the last SA Open, and fourth in 2016, he said he was eager to get his national title on to his CV.
“I definitely feel that I’ve come close after finishing fourth and second and I definitely want to go one better.
“The SA Open means quite a bit to me, I feel that it’s the one title I’m missing having ticked the Nedbank Challenge in 2017.
“This is the one I need to be able to say that I’ve won the big four in South Africa – the Alfred Dunhill, the Joburg Open, the Nedbank and the SA Open.
“In the last couple of months I’ve played some good golf and I just need it to all click together, to hit the ball well and putt well at the same time.
“I think there’s a low score around the corner, sooner rather than later, and having been at home for two weeks, I’m in a better space in terms of my golf. But with 240 golfers, 70 more guys to beat, you have to be on top of your game – level-par is not going to be good enough,” Grace said at Randpark yesterday.
South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer, Louis Oosthuizen, is also eager to add the SA Open to his collection of wins, and he agreed that the huge field, the biggest on the European Tour, is going to put pressure on contenders for the title to get off to a fast start.
“This is a tough week with 240 players. It’s all on how you start, how you get out of the blocks on Thursday and Friday.
“We all know the cut’s going to be really low, so you can’t really cruise from the start. You need to start well and play well and make sure you’re there by the weekend. Once you’re there, things change.
“Normally, you can sort of find your way through on Thursday and Friday and put yourself in a good spot. With all these players, you know you’ve got to come out and make a lot of birdies.
“But my game’s good, it’s trending in the direction I want it to be. There’s still a lot of work to be done to really be where I want it to be, but I’ve been doing different things with my coach and just getting a feel for a few more things.
“I drove it well at the Nedbank Challenge and the putting was good, although the iron play can improve,” Oosthuizen said.