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VOLVO GOLF CHAMPIONSJanuary 7, 2014Branden GraceDURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA STEVE TODD: Many thanks for joining us, a winner of this tournament a couple of years ago and supporting Volvo events. BRANDEN GRACE: Yeah, I don't know what it is, but they keep choosing golf courses I like playing and the golf course I haven't played‑‑ I do like to playor had a good finish. It's nice to be back here in Durban. You know, it's great way to start the year here, with a lot of history and had a good year last year. This year with the heat, it's going to play a lot firmer and faster and I'm sure by Thursday come, it's going to be something completely different to what we expect. STEVE TODD: Give us a sense of what you did over Christmas and your preparations coming into the calendar year. BRANDEN GRACE: Yeah, it was a break but it also wasn't a break. It's just nice to get home for once. This is only my fourth visit to South Africa from the beginning of last year, so it was a long year for me and it was just nice to be home for once. Whether I kept playing golf or I was sitting with the family at home, it was nice to be home. But at being home, I had a couple of things to dowhich was nice ‑‑ the Gary Player Invitational, and then obviously after that a couple of charity days ‑‑ inaudible‑‑ it's just nice to be part of something and to be back to that. I don't get to see my cousins very often, so it was nice to have the whole family together for Christmas which is something rare, so that was pretty awesome and I just want to play golf‑‑ put a smile on their faces. Preparation, like I said, why I really put the clubs down. I didn't practise but I kept playing rounds of golf, so it felt like I kept up and obviously the last week was really back to normal. Working on some things and working on the putting and just getting ready for this week. STEVE TODD: And this week with a limited field, no cuts, increased prize fund, nice way to start the year. BRANDEN GRACE: Definitely. Volvo, they just keep taking it up every year. And increasing this year is something that‑‑ it's nice to come out to Durban and like you say with a limited field this week, it's just nice to start the year off that you can play four rounds and you can work on things. It's a nice week and hopefully we can just finish with a finish, not like last year, but the year before. Q. Welcome back to Durban. Last year you were close, the last three rounds, you managed to putt yourself in the Top‑10. What sort of performance or start do you feel you need to put yourself in contention, because it felt like the first round kind of took it way from you pretty early and if you had a few scores like you did in the final three rounds, could you have pushed. BRANDEN GRACE: Obviously you need to start well. You put yourself up well‑‑ it's nice to be up there‑‑ getting up on the leaderboard, I think I handle myself pretty well when I get into that position. I'd also like to think that, it didn't cost me last year, but if you can get into the top 5 or Top‑10, just don't jump too far away. On a golf course like this, you get a day‑‑ you can really shoot a number out there. I'm not the longest and I feel like they have opened the fairways and they have taken a lot of the Bush out of play as well, so if you really get it going, there are really good scores around this place. But again, you know, depending on what the weather does, if it stays this hot, some guys are going to struggle. You just really have to stay hydrated and drink the fluids and keep up there and just try to deal with that and also deal with golf. A lot of the times, the heat can really get the better of you and you can really go backwards. If you can start well, then you never know. Q. Also, you may have to stop the Dane from making it three in a row in South African tournaments. What do you make of the South African fields that are there to defend our honour? BRANDEN GRACE: Yeah, I'm very happy, we have all had a steady year. Almost won a couple of times ‑‑ contrast to win the Order of Merit, been a good contender in the majority of the weeks on The European Tour. Dawie has just shot through the ranks again just before the break, so he looks like he's in good form now, as well. And then, you know, if you just look at the other guys, what they have achieved so far in their career, Charl, Richard, Louis, myself‑‑ did I miss anybody; I think there's only six of us in the field this week. So we all know how to win. Everybody in the tournament knows what it's like to win and knows what to do to win. I feel pretty comfortable. But there's a couple of things I need to work on this afternoon before the week starts, and then hopefully come Thursday I'll be there. Q. Can you talk about the goals you've set yourself this season and how you'll be approaching the year? BRANDEN GRACE: Last year was a tough year. Obviously, you know, not just for myself, but any player, you would have struggled having the year that I had in 2012; to come out and really just be the same. So last year was a lot of firsts for me again. I feel like I found my feet in 2012 and then you come into 2013, and now you're playing in bigger tournaments in the States. This year, I think it's nice that, again, that I can choose my schedule. I can choose what events to play. If you do your homework a little bit, you can go to courses that you think that you can play well on that suits your game. The States it's a little bit different but now I know what it's like to play there and what to expect and what not to expect. I'm really looking forward and the goals are more on not just performances but the Majors and the WGCs. Those are some events that I really want to put a key on. There's a couple of things that I feel like I should be doing well‑‑ there's a couple of courses, for instance like the Bridgestone, I feel like I should do better in. I've never had a great finish there, but I feel the course really suits my game. Augusta is a first last year but now that I've seen the place and know what to expect and know more the ins and outs on the golf course, I really want to try to make a push there this year. Q. (How different is it playing in the States and what do you have to do this year)? BRANDEN GRACE: You have to get outside your comfort zone. You play in so many countries, there's a lot to deal with, different languages, different golf courses. There's not one golf course that's the same out there. You go to the States, the travel is easier, you have the Florida Swing and it goes on from there. Travelling is not a big factor there. Obviously most of the guys that play on the PGA TOUR, they have jets and things like that that just make it easier to travel. I think that is a big thing in Europe, you can go from Dubai to Australia and that will take you‑‑ through my last round of my last tournament last year, I went from home onto Scotland for the Dunhill, from the Dunhill I went to America for The Presidents Cup, then I had a week off which I needed to travel down to Australia for the Perth championship. From Perth, two weeks in China, and then the following week, Turkey again and then from Turkey back to Dubai for the final one and then obviously to represent your country, to go to the World Cup in Australia and back home. It's a lot of travelling. I don't think a lot of guys realise that. But just to get back to the States, the courses are a lot different. A lot of times the courses aren't really longer but they like to stick in the fairway and the rough is thicker‑‑ the thing about the States is the greens. In Europe, you get in a comfort zone, 12, 13, week‑in, week‑out. But getting into the states, the greens will be running at 14, 15, week‑in, week‑out. A lot of people think it's not a big thing to adapt to but it is. You have to read the greens different. Your striking has to go shorter, slower. I think a lot of things that I've done, I've gone shorter and slower, a lot of guys have told me I should go shorter but quicker. I still think putting is about hitting it straight which I struggle to do. So overall that's one of the things that I've looked at and worked on so hopefully when I get back over there now, I know what to expect and I can just give it a go a little bit more. STEVE TODD: Thanks for joining us and best of luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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