State of Grace Branden’s a changed man
The Pretoria-born golfer talks about the folly of the world rankings, how he wants his son to carry his bag at Augusta next year and how fatherhood has changed him
You’ve come close to winning the SA Open over the last few years. This must be one you desperately want to add to your list?
I’ve been closer than I would have liked. A fourth and a second, I think, in the past two appearances. I definitely want to go one better and get over the line.
The SA Open means quite a bit to me. I feel that’s the one that’s missing.
If you asked me a few years ago what is missing I would have said Nedbank (Golf Challenge) and SA Open. I’ve ticked that first box and this is the next one I have to tick. You’re spending valuable time at home over the next few weeks, but how difficult is it to strike that balance between where you live and which tour you play on most?
You need to decide where you are going to live. Staying in SA and playing on the PGA Tour doesn’t make sense.
You cannot do it. It is too far to travel.
You can’t do a month on the road, come back for a week and fly back. You’ll only have three or four days off before you fly back.
The flying is just going to kill you. If you play in Europe you can come back and spend a week because it is just an overnight flight. Has it helped being back home in familiar surrounds?
Fortunately I have been home for two weeks.
It has been a hectic past few months travelling on the Asian Tour, the PGA Tour and finishing the year on the European Tour.
It was nice to be back at Fancourt just to relax and see the wife and the little one. I only see them five days in six weeks. It gets long. There are little more important things at home. When you are in a better space like that it is going to reflect in your golf as well. Has fatherhood brought a fresh perspective?
It is life-changing. People who say it is easy are talking nonsense. It’s tough at times. To take the time to reflect on what is golf and what is family.
I’ve got work to do. I don’t play work for fun. I play golf to make a living and to win tournaments and to be successful. You’ll have a son that will look up to you, who will be proud of you and you can give him a better lifestyle.
If things don’t go your way it is nice to go back now and just see a smile on his face. He doesn’t care if you have a bad day or a great day. He’s just happy you’re home. Speaking of which, you’ve set a little goal for yourself, or him.
I want him to caddie for me in the parthree tournament at Augusta (at next year’s Masters).
That is something I really want him to do. I told my wife he’ll do it. Making it to Augusta is an understatement, making it to Augusta and him caddying for me is something else. Are you serious? Surely he’s too young and can’t caddie for you then?
He is, he is, he will. I tell you, he’s huge. He’s so tall it is ridiculous. We both said he is going to walk before he starts crawling.
By April, he’ll be just over a year. Even if he doesn’t walk he’ll be there. Maybe he’ll pull a cart?
Yes, he can do that.
Your world ranking has dropped to No 50. What’s your prospect of staying inside the top 50?
I would be quite disappointed to fall out of the top 50. I have been in the top 50 for the past three, four years now. The game feels in good enough shape for me to be victorious by the end of the week. Things like that take care of the rest.
Having dropped a few places do you feel that is a reflection of how you’ve played?
The world ranking system is a tough system. You need to get your tournament numbers under 52. That’s the only way you stay in the top 50 for longer. Unless you’re very consistent. This year I’ve been helluva consistent. I’ve missed two cuts. I’ve had top 10s and top fives and yet I’ve dropped 35 spots in the world rankings. It is not that I’ve played bad golf. I’ve not had that win. If I win this week I’m back to 35th in the world. Winning is important but you also need to get tournament numbers down.
Look at guys like Tiger (Woods), Jordan (Spieth) and Jason Day. Jason struggles to play 15 tournaments a season. He can take a year off and won’t be out of the top 20 in the world.
That’s how they stay there. Tiger’s ranking was over 1,000 but seven or eight tournaments later he is No 14 in the world again. Things needs to change a little in the world rankings again. You kind of have to almost penalise guys if they don’t play enough events.
But there are players who seem to get by.
Patrick Reed is one of the few guys that’s maybe in the top 20 in the world that plays week in and week out. He needs to play really good golf to stay in that position for that long.
You shoot yourself in the foot by adding another tournament to your schedule.
I’ve not played for two weeks. I went from 47 to 45, then a week later I didn’t play again I dropped to 50. It doesn’t make sense.
How can you maintain or improve your ranking?
I had a five-foot putt at Nedbank (Golf Challenge) to finish fourth. Then I would not be in this situation where I am 50th in the world. Maybe 45th or 42nd.
I fall in that trap a lot where if I can’t win, I lose motivation. That is what we are all trying to do. I don’t want to finish fourth. I want to win the event.
Don’t take things for granted. Things change too often especially in golf when you never know when it is your last event.