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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 26, 2017

Branden Grace

Surrey, England

Q. A solid second round, not quite as good as yesterday. What was the difference between the two rounds?
BRANDEN GRACE: I actually thought I hit the ball better today but I just didn't take the chances on the green. I think I missed three or four putts inside ten feet, which was costly out there but it was tricky.

The winds are really looking stronger than yesterday but it is playing tough. The pins I thought was a little trickier than yesterday, as well. So it's not easy to get to those back pin positions.

Q. Most of the guys are saying how much the dynamic changes to this golf course once the wind does start swirling around because there's no pattern?
BRANDEN GRACE: Some of the holes, that's why I said yesterday, the last six holes, every shot you hit -- it's so hard to trust the shots but you know, that's what you have to do. You can only trust and hit the shots that you see, and if it works it works. If it doesn't, you just hit it again wherever it ends up.

Q. Obviously after a good start it's always nice to follow that up with random red figures and keep yourself into contention going into the weekend?
BRANDEN GRACE: Yeah, we're there or thereabouts. I'm excited for the weekend and playing well and I hope a couple of putts drop tomorrow and be in there with a chance on Sunday.

Q. How did you play?
BRANDEN GRACE: It was good. I actually thought I hit the ball a little better than yesterday but yesterday I got everything out of the round. Today I missed a couple of putts inside ten feet which was costly and it's a little bit frustrating on a day like today. It is tricky with the wind gusting a little bit but still good position heading to the weekend.

Q. It's expected to get firmer and faster this afternoon?
BRANDEN GRACE: I just hope it stays the same. Like I said, it was tricky but it firmed up for us yesterday afternoon and it should do the same and hopefully we can be in with a shout over the weekend.

Q. How are you feeling on the whole about your golf game?
BRANDEN GRACE: Yeah, feeling better. A couple of shots here and there that I don't feel comfortable about, but I feel the game is slowly creeping better. The putting is getting better which is nice. This year has been a little bit frustrating. The days I hit it good, I don't make the putts and the days I hit it poorly, I make the putts. There are days where it comes together like yesterday and hopefully get a W again.

Q. Game plan for the next couple days?
BRANDEN GRACE: Pretty much the same. I always play this golf course a little bit aggressive. I like hitting the low stinger with a driver around a lot of those holes where some of the other guys might hit 3-woods and things like that. Just stick to the game plan, do the same and hopefully roll in some putts.

Q. Your reaction with Danny Tweeting and Paul McGinley saying the decision was ridiculous, because you can keep going until you find -- in your own mind, are you happy that you didn't get --
BRANDEN GRACE: Sometimes the rules work in your favour and sometimes they don't. I did not write the rule book. That's why the rules officials are out there. He was there for a reason. It was his call at the end of the day. He thought it was a fair question from my side, and you know, that was the ruling. It states like that in the rule book. So you know, the rule was there for a reason, and you know, I used to my advantage.

Q. Was it uncomfortable when other players are Tweeting and there is that kind of commentary?
BRANDEN GRACE: It is a little bit. I actually received a message from Paul this morning saying he's got nothing against me at all. They didn't criticise me for taking the drop. He just doesn't agree with the ruling. That was a little bit nicer to hear from him. So that made looking over the situation a little bit easier.

Q. Would you rather Danny sort you out and spoke to you face-to-face rather than Tweeting?
BRANDEN GRACE: There's always going to be a thing like that. If it wasn't him, it would have been a spectator or something like that. You always get some good vibes and some bad vibes. That's just the name of the game. And it is what it is. I don't think I did anything wrong. Like I said, the ruling was there. The rules official was there and he made the call. So that's just the end of the story.

Q. No regrets about the incident and the reaction?
BRANDEN GRACE: Not really. Obviously seeing what the people said about, it obviously there is a little bit of regret. But again that's the rule. I didn't make those rules. At the end of day, it could have worked to my advantage, but I still didn't make four. I made bogey at the end of the day. I probably could have made bogey from where I was, anyway. I didn't really take full advantage of the situation.

Q. Wasn't playing on your mind today?
BRANDEN GRACE: It was a little bit this morning. Obviously waking up, I'm one of the guys that always likes to go on social media and Twitter and those things. There's always somebody that writes something negative, whether it's a player, whether it's some guys that like you or some guys that don't like you in the crowd, that always happens. But that did caught me off my guard a little bit this morning. But like I said, the guy was there for a reason, the rules official and it's his call at the end of the day.

The only thing bad thing about it was -- it happened a couple years ago in China. I think the rules official actually came to me afterwards and said they only changed that rule three years ago.

Normally it was part of the course, part of the golf course and then they changed it to it's interference with the swing rules, the stance, or something like that. The only reason why I brought it up is because it happened to a couple of the other guys. Otherwise I would never even have thought about asking about the situation.

But knowing how it turned out a couple years ago, I thought, well, you can always take a chance. It's either going to go in your favour or it's not. I was right in the ruling there. Like I said, it was still his call.

Q. You're feeling that you weren't gripping properly?
BRANDEN GRACE: The right foot wasn't the issue. Obviously as you all know, the higher you go in the bunker, the less sand there is. It was pretty much four, five centimetres of sand at the top but getting your stance, it is pretty hard to get in there. Here it feels like a rubber beneath the sand and that was the thing, and then sometimes you slip, especially a situation like that where you have to really try to hit the shot as hard as you can. Ask the question and he said yes.

Q. There was no crowd problem today?
BRANDEN GRACE: No, not at all. I must say, there wasn't -- I mean, obviously there was a couple of players that said some stuff but a couple of guys came up to me on the putting green, as well. Peter Hanson said he had a situation like that yesterday but he didn't even think of asking for the ruling.

So he said to me this morning, what he knows now, if he gets in that situation, then he might ask. I'm not sure -- I'm sure I'm not going to be the last one, and you know, there's a lot of controversy in the rulings these days. Some goes your way and some don't. Just the way it goes at the moment.

Q. The rubber matting, is it too near the surface?
BRANDEN GRACE: I was really surprised to get it there to be honest because the bunkers, feels like there's a lot of sand in the bunkers this week. But like I said, it's normal, the higher you go up the lips, the less sand there's going to be. Because the guys, they rake it down and it falls to the bottom. So that was probably just the situation.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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