DOHA: South Africa’s Branden Grace yesterday admitted strong winds made life difficult for the players at the Doha Gold Club (DGC) but the defending champion said he was pleased to have won his second title at $2.5m Qatar Masters.
Grace finished the final round with a 69 for an overall card of 14 under par 274 at a windswept DGC. Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Thorbjorn Olesen were tied for the second spot.
A quick Q and A with the Qatar Masters champion:
Question: Your first successful title defence, 7th European Tour win. How does it feel?
Branden Grace: It’s great. I’m pretty much at a loss for words. It’s a big thing to come to a week defending. You’ve got a lot more pressure and a lot more things going on that week. But to get the first proper defence under the belt is something great and something I’ve been dreaming of. You know, there’s no better place to do it than Qatar. This is really one of my biggest wins to date last year, and I think this is just going to push it up even higher.
Q: It looked today like it was kind of a strategy going perfectly to plan, yes?
Grace: I just told myself, if I playing the same type of golf that I played yesterday, I should be there or thereabouts. It’s brutal conditions out there. You can’t really force things to happen. You just need to stay patient and let it happen. I did that really well yesterday and it worked to my advantage and did the same today.
Q: With the form you had coming into this week, you must have felt like this was on the horizon pretty close.
Grace: Yeah, it was. I’ve played some really good golf. Everything has just happened. The patience wasn’t there the last couple of weeks. I felt things last week progressed well in the right direction and I thought I had a good chance, and pushed a little bit too hard, went after a couple of shots I shouldn’t have and those things cost me two bogeys on the back nine on Sunday. This week, I think it played a little bit into my hands with the weather. I enjoy tough conditions. I’m a grinder, and you know, the patience was a big key. I really had to grind it out and let it happen, and when I had the opportunity of making a birdie, I had to take it. That was the big key today.
Q. This tournament has a great list of champions but you’re the first one to appear on it twice that row. How does that make you feel?
Grace: Oh, it’s great. I’ll say this, I’m definitely coming back.It’s awesome. Like you said, there’s some great names, there’s a lot of big names on the trophy. I feel privileged to be able to get my name on there in a row twice, and that’s great. Great feeling, my first defence that I’ve done properly. I’ve had a couple of tournaments but none of them’s worked out. This is special. It’s definitely getting myself over another hurdle. It’s all a big learning curve as your career goes on. I’ve learned a lot this week for myself, learned patience, and I’ve learned what it takes now to defend a title. And not just that; to win a title again. It happened two years ago, or last year, but it feels long gone. So it’s great to be in the winner’s circle again.
Q. What’s been the toughest part, winning it for the first time here or defending?
Grace: Both were so different. The first one was obviously, I was never really there. I fell behind early in the day last year on Saturday, and the guys, Marc Warren and the guys, made some birdies and I was behind and chasing the pack. And then I just had that miraculous finish, eagle, par, birdie, and the rest was history. Today was a grind. Weather conditions like these, it’s just tough. It’s tough mentally. It’s tough physically. And even though -- the thing is when you start going after things, that’s when it backfires, and I think that’s why this one was almost more special than last year. You really had to stick to your guns, stick to the game plan. I had the game plan. I just wanted to play the same type of golf that I played yesterday and it worked out and it was enough at the end.
Q. What’s your thoughts now of moving inside the Top-10 in the World Rankings for the first time?
Grace: Yeah, well, I know for a fact I’m not going to get there after this win. I’m knocking. I’m very close. You know what, that comes with it. Golf works in a way if you can take care of tournaments and try and compete and try to win or finish at the top, you’ll move up in the World Rankings eventually. Top-10 has been a long-time goal for me. So you know, if I can get in there, then that’s great. I believe it’s going to happen, whether it’s maybe after this week or after the next tournament I play. I’ve given myself the chance of getting that, and I feel that the type of golf that I’m playing at the moment, that it’s not far off. I’m excited to head over to the States and hopefully can do it over there.
Q. How confident are you ahead of -- after today, ahead of Augusta?
Grace: You know, majors are obviously a big goal for any golfer, any guy that gets in there, it’s a chance to win a major. I feel with the things that I’ve learned in the previous couple, I had some good finishes, and I feel my game is in good shape that I can get there. The majors, pretty much the same as this week. You need a bit -- there’s a bit of luck involved. You need to get the luck that goes your way with the draw, etc. There’s one or two putts that’s clutch with makes it, or one or two swings which can turn everything around. That was the case at the US Open for me on the 16th, but I’ve learned from that. You know, hopefully, if I get into that position again next time around, that I’ve learned enough to know that I should do maybe that one thing different.
The Peninsula
