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THE PRESIDENTS CUPOctober 1, 2013Branden GraceDUBLIN, OHIO BRANDEN GRACE: This is the ultimate dream come true. My first experience and tournament experience that I have ever watched is pretty much this at Fancourt, which was the ultimate thing for me. That is when I knew I wanted to play golf. That is when I knew I‑‑ this is what I want to do for a living. And you know, I was there‑‑ I was there a couple of days before the event and not really thinking that there is going to be anybody on the driving range hitting balls, preparing, and there was Tiger and Charles Howell III standing on the range in shorts and trainers and knocking it away. It was just myself sitting there on the range behind them watching them hit balls. That was where the bug really bit me. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: I was there every day at the event. But this was the Sunday night of the thing. I was just home. When they did the playoff, I was on top of the mounds on the left‑hand side of the second. I was still there watching them battling it out. It was great. That's when I really knew this is what I want to do. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: You know, I actually just‑‑ while we were on the 15th green, there is one of these TV boards on the right. I asked Ernie, "Listen, were you nervous over that putt?" He was like, "Yes, I was." So it was one of those. It was a strange feeling. Obviously you know you want Tiger to make it and you want Ernie to make it. You want it to carry on. But I thought of that stage, it was a little bit unfair that the whole team spirit was put down to one guy, you know, from both sides. Fortunately, it ended on good spirits and things like that. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: I was just playing junior golf. Obviously I wasn't really into playing many events and things like that, not even for South Africa yet. It was more of just enjoying the game and playing for the fun of it. Obviously when that happened and I had that experience, you know, then I knew this was what it's all about. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: Definitely, yeah. Ernie has been there the whole way pretty much. Obviously with me and Shawn and Lee coming through his Foundation, it means a lot for him as well as seeing us here competing with him on the same team. You know, but he does great stuff for South African golf. And through his Foundation, to give kids the opportunity to ‑‑ to give them a light and to show them what golf is all about and what tournament golf is all about. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: Probably not. You know, I was fortunate enough to be in a Fancourt Foundation before I joined the Ernie Els Foundation, because they actually amalgamated. So I had the backing and the things before then. Obviously, you know, being in his foundation as well, just gives you a little bit of a different feeling knowing that you see him at some of the things. Every now and then when he has time back home, he will do a clinic with the kids, come around maybe play a couple holes with them. Those things make it extra special. He has done his fair share. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: Definitely. Not just Ernie but Adam as well. The two of them, and all of us actually, we really want to step it up this week and finish it off. You know, there's been a couple of close calls so far. It would be great if we can really get this one going this year. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: He almost took Charl out on the golf course today, so that wouldn't have gone well. We're all just stoked. The team atmosphere is really great so far. I've not really met some of the guys before this week, before yesterday actually. You know, Marc Leishman and Graeme and a couple of those guys, I've only heard the names, I've not really seen them. It's nice that we're all getting along and all cheering for each other. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: It's pretty natural. I think it's not just because of golf. If I can go back a little bit to just South Africa and Australia, I mean it's two big sporting nations. With the rugby and things going on as well, we just want to beat the Australians and the Australians just want to beat us. So that character is built into us. I'm sure that's what helping this week. We want to get together and just step it up against the States and hopefully we can beat them. Obviously we've got some great guys on the team as well that have been there. They can tell us the ins and outs of how things go and when to take chances and when not to take chances and things like that, especially on a golf course like this. It's not just Ernie, but also Adam and Cabrera and Jason. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: I don't know. When did they start with this mashed potato thing? No, I haven't. I think it's just one of those things. You come in here and you know you are on their home turf. You just have to mentally be prepared for it. You must not let them get the better of you. The only way you are going to get them quiet is by playing your game and bringing out your best game on the day. If you can get that going, I'm sure they are going to back off a little bit and maybestart cheering for yo. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: You know, we had a good practice session today. I think Nick and them had a good strategy behind the day. We had a good day where we played alternate shot on every shot today. But we played two balls from the tee, two balls coming in, we're putting out two balls and all those things. I think the strategy behind today was good. You know, we got a good feeling of a couple of pairings that's probably going to be going out and things like that. Hopefully today but also tomorrow, you know, we can really get comfortable out there. A positive thing is you have the better ball on the first day so you can really still get the feel of where you want to go and what you want to do on specific holes. Obviously there is a lot of things to think about. If you tee off on the first, you are going to putt a lot. If you go to the normal holes like 2, 4, all the solid holes, you are going to play all the par‑3s, which is a tough one as well. You really need to have a good strategy behind everything around this golf course. There is some great pairings and I think it should be good. Q. What pairings do you expect to see? BRANDEN GRACE: Obviously that's according to Nick and them. I can't really say anything as of now. I'm sure it's going to be‑‑ the pairings are going to be guys that feel comfortable playing around each other. I think Nick will have a couple of South African guys play together, a couple of Australians and vice‑versa. I really can't say much more on that. I know the guys are really‑‑ the guys that are going to be playing together are going to be stoked to play together. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: I think for some of the guys, yes. A lot of the guys in their career have done changes so far. You know, I was with Titleist going onto Callaway and that's quite a big difference, Callaway being a harder ball than Titleist. I played with Richard today and then, you know, I didn't find that big of an adjustment to go to the TaylorMade ball. It's a lot softer. I could still control the ball. I'm sure there's a lot of guys that struggle with it. Myself in particular, I don't really‑‑ doesn't really fuss me that much. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: It can do. I think a lot of guys, which is nice ‑‑ Nick actually came up to me a little bit later in the round and said, "Listen, you can actually on the par‑3s, you can play your own ball," which is a good thing. A lot of guys a lot of the times, iron shots is the important thing. If you get a little bit of a flat or a balloon, especially with these par‑3s being a lot of water on the holes, that little bit can cost you. I'm sure a lot of the guys by the time we tee it up on Thursday, we're going to‑‑ it's probably going to be out of my head and feel comfortable with it and get on with it. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: Not really. I think if I was the only one, yes. I think with there being seven, it makes it a little bit easier. There's seven guys that haven't been here before. They haven't had this experience. It's nice to get all that experience and sharing with guys like that, especially the great guys we have got on our team as well. Then also you have got the veterans on the team, Ernie and Adam and things like that that can really show you the inside and how we should do it and how it's going to be this week. So that's great. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: Quite a bit. We've had‑‑ growing up we play a lot of team events back in South Africa. We have Interprovincial for South African and as well playing around the world. So I have got a fair bit of it. Obviously, foursomes, we haven't really played as much as we would like to as a pro. We all‑‑ I think the good thing is if you take Richard, myself, Shawn and Luis, we play week in week out where we play in the same event. We play together. You're very comfortable around each other's games. You know what to expect from those guys, and you know what they are capable of doing. So I think that's a big relief as well. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: I think the par‑5s are going to be a big key this week around this golf course. We're pretty fortunate that all 12 guys on the team are pretty much long hitters. We should be able to get onto the par‑5s in regulations and really give it a push. The big key this week is going to be the par‑3s. Maybe not the fourth hole, but definitely the 8th, 12th and 16th. Those three holes are going to be key. You're going to win a couple of games with pars on those holes. Just taking the pin out of play, go for the middle greens and try and make the long putt. Q. What did you think of the new tee on 18? BRANDEN GRACE: It's different. It's 45 yards longer or something like that. It's not really a driver flick anymore. It's one of those holes where you have to put in position now. You have to favor the left side, which is tough, especially with that sleuth being on the left. So it's definitely going to be a finishing hole now, not just for this event but for the Memorial in the future as well. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: It's great, especially with having Nick as a captain. They've got a lot of stories. Not just him, but Tony and Marc as well. The speeches have been really ‑‑ obviously you all know we want it really badly this week. Nick has been on the team with Ernie that won the first one, which has been great. He told us, "Listen, there is no better feeling than lifting that trophy on the Sunday. Believe me, we're going to have a party if we do it." So it's great. Just things like that you need to hear. You know they have done it before. They came close in 2003 in South Africa. Hopefully we can pull it off this year and put the Presidents Cup on the map where it should be. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: Shawn and Luis with their haircut? That was a joke actually. We had this barber come in and we actually there was six of us wanting to cut our hair and Luis had his haircut. I thought they were coming today at 6:00 rather than last night at 6:00. By the time Luis came out, I had just got showered and we were going down for the team dinner. I saw Luis and I thought his wife cut his hair because she normally just clips it. He was like, "No, the barber is there." I went in there and I saw the barber is busy. I saw he shaved the right to the top of the head, and I thought it's a little bit of a dicey one coming in.  I thought I would rather give a skip for this one today. I tell you what, we really took the laugh out of them at the dinner. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: Yeah, it's been great. You know, we play a lot of golf together. You know, when we're in the same tournaments, obviously like last week, we played together practice round. It's great that he's been‑‑ I think this is his eighth maybe, if I'm not mistaken. You know, so he's got a low of history behind him. He's got a lot of feeling around things like this. I would like to think he's one of the best match play players in the world. You can only learn from a player of his standard. It's been great. To be honest he's not changed much from this week from every other week except that he really wants to win. So it's great. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: I did. I did actually. My fondest memory of the event was a couple of days before the event. I actually went up there to have a look if there is anybody around. So there was two guys on the driving range. So I ran over and there was Tiger and Charles Howell III hitting balls in shorts and trainers on the driving range with nobody there. I was sitting behind them on the grass just watching the two legends hit golf balls. That is really when I knew the golf bug bit me. That's when I knew this is what I want to do for a living. And you know, that I can maybe take this further. But I was there every day running around, getting autographs and things like that. I was there in the playoff as well. I was standing there. I remember the par‑3, a great hole coming down the hill. There's big slopes on the left‑hand side. I was cheering them on, so it was great. Q. (Inaudible)? BRANDEN GRACE: You know, it was one of those where you knew Tiger was going to make it. You know, it's like every other week out here. When he gets in the situation, you know, you know he's going to do something special. At that stage Ernie was one of the best player in the world like he is now, but he was‑‑ I don't really know where he was in the World Ranking at that stage. He was still very comfortable in the greens and things like that. I think he really wanted it badly, especially being at home. He wasn't going to let it slip. But we saw it on the 15th hole today. They've got one of these TV stands on the right. They showed the highlights of the 2003, of Tiger making his. And I said, "Ernie, listen, were you nervous down there?" He was like, "You got no idea." It was great to see that he is also human. It's nice that he can share experiences like that with us. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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