Branden Grace Captures RBC Heritage For First Ever Tour Title
South African Branden Grace carded a final round 66 on Sunday to capture the RBC Hertiage Open at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Grace came into Sunday’s round, sitting in fifth place at 4-under par, three shots behind leader and former world number one, Luke Donald. Grace came out firing on Sunday, starting with back-to-back birdies on the first two holes. While Grace did have a slip-up bogey at the par-3 4th, he quickly bounced back, finishing the back nine with three birdies on the final five holes. Once he held the lead, Grace never looked back. He finished with a 5-under 66, and his clubhouse lead proved to be too tough for the rest of the field to match, and Grace walked away with the traditional plaid jacket from the RBC Heritage.
Former world number one Luke Donald, who has remained under the radar as of late, finished in a tie for second place with Scotsman Russell Knox. While Donald held the 54-hole lead, he was never able to get anything going on Sunday finishing with an even-par 71. Knox started the day at 3-under par, and was in contention after the front nine, carding four birdies on the front, but couldn’t keep up the momentum finishing even par on the tough back nine. Knox finished the day with an impressive 4-under 67, good for a tie for second with Donald at two shots back of Grace.
The victory at Harbour Town is the first ever Tour victory for Grace, and his second top-five finish of the season (his first coming at the WGC HSBC Champions in November). While this is only his first PGA Tour victory, Grace is no stranger to winning. He has seven total wins on the European tour since 2012, and he was the first ever player on the European tour to win four events in the same season (2012). Look for Grace to potentially make a move up the leaderboard at the US Open at Oakmont in June, where he finished T4 at last years Open at Chambers Bay.
Branden Grace’s Winning What’s In The Bag
- Driver: Callaway XR16 Sub Zero – 8.5° (Fujikura Six Tour X)
- Fairway Wood: Big Bertha Alpha – 16° (Fujikura Speeder 757X Evolution Shaft)
- Irons: Callaway Apex UT – 3 X Forged ’13 4 – PW (True Temper Project X 6.5)
- Wedges: Callaway Mack Daddy 2 Tour Grind – 52°, 56° and 60° (True Temper Dynamic Project X 6.5)
- Putter: Odyssey Versa V-Line – White Black White
- Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
DeChambeau Turns Pro, Shines In Debut
The talk of the town going into the week at the RBC Heritage was with former US Amateur and NCAA Champion from SMU, Bryson DeChambeau. Early last week DeChambeau announced he would be turning pro, and shortly thereafter, announced his official signing with Cobra-Puma Golf. This is a great “get” for Cobra adding to their already impressive roster of young guns Rickie Fowler and Lexi Thompson.
While DeChambeau added Cobra woods and wedges to the bag this week, one thing remained the same: his unique iron set. DeChambeau currently uses a set of Edel Prototype irons that are all the same length. You read that correctly: all of his irons are the same length. Talk about lie adjustments! While some photos have been leaked of some new (and SWEET) prototype irons that Cobra has made for DeChambeau, there is no indication of if/when those will be put in to play.
At his first event as a professional at the RBC Heritage this past weekend, DeChambeau got his professional career off to a great start. He shot a final-round 68 en route to a 5-under par finish, good enough to net him a T4 finish and a cool $260,000. Adding to that, the youngster posted a picture on social media of him flying home from South Carolina on a private jet, and thanked his newly inked sponsor NetJets. Not too shabby for a 22 year old.
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