Grace Leads WGC-HSBC Champions

Good day, your grace! It certainly was

It was a day of fireworks as Branden Grace took a one shot lead at the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai. The South African who came of age this year on the world stage shot a spectacular nine under round giving him a narrow one shot lead over Steven Bowditch, Kevin Kisner, and Thorbjorn Oleson.

Grace currently lies 6th on the Race to Dubai rankings and has Rory firmly in his sights. But for a couple of bad swings Grace could have been a double major champion this year, so we know he’s good enough to lead from the front. 

“Coming into these events, knowing that I'm sixth, I know one good week can change everything and give it a last final push. There's a lot still to play for. Barely had a breath of wind out there and the golf course is playing probably as easy as it could be playing.”

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But what a chasing pack. American tourists Kisner, Johnson, Reed, Spieth and Watson all shot under par, with Johnson the danger man. He made it look easy out there, absolutely crushing it off of the tee on his way to shooting 65.

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GolfPunk favourites Paul Casey and Thomas Pieters are also right there after shooting 67’s. On a day of good scoring only 13 players shot worse than par.

Elsewhere Danny Willett, second in the Race to Dubai shot a 65 to lay in tied 5th to keep the heat on Rory, who despite his dicky tummy shot a solid four under 68. While for the Chinese fans Haotong Li and Xinjun Zhang shot a 66 and a 67 respectively. 

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