Ernie Els says Branden Grace will win a major soon
Last year, Branden Grace failed to make it to the European Tour through automatic qualifiers. As a result, he entered the qualifying school and earned his playing card for the tier-one tour for the 2012 golf season.
At that time, no one could have even thought of him as one of the star performers in the events to come.
He made his breakthrough by winning the Joburg Open early in January and followed that win with a victory in the Volvo Golf Champions.
Right after two months, he added another title to his resume by taking home the Volvo China Open title in April.
He then spent almost five months without a win on the tour and made a strong comeback by winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October.
With Grace’s victory at Links, the South African became the only player in the history to record four victories after graduating from the European Tour Qualifying School.
In addition to that, he also became the seventh quickest player to record four victories in his career. Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was the 70th European Tour start of his career.
After all this, different golf communities have started predicting him as the future’s major winner.
The reigning Open champion Ernie Els, who has mentored Grace for years, recently said that his compatriot has the potential to raise the prestigious Claret Jug in the times to come.
"His game is so good Branden could well enough win an Open Championship," Els said. "Branden has always been a quality player, and he's really come on now. So he's a world contender now; wherever he plays, he's got a chance to win now”.
"He's a quality player and he's established himself here in Europe given he's now exempt for a couple of years, so he will get a lot more starts in the US now he will be top-50 after this week,” Els added, after Grace recorded his victory at Old Course St.
Andrews in Carnoustie & Kingsbarns.
According to Els, he studied Grace’s progress over the past few years and found that the 24-year-old always loved to take things in a positive manner.
Moreover, his quick learning ability differentiated him from his competitors. Els also stated that he was proud to have mentored a number of South Africans in his Ernie Els Foundation.
Louis Oosthuizen is another player who supported his amateur career through Els’ financial help for about three years.
Oosthuizen has won a total of five European Tour titles, including a win in The Open Championship, in 2010.
Moreover, he also won two tournaments this year – he successfully defended his title at the Africa Open and recorded a victory in the Maybank Malaysian Open.
Tags: