Dubai: Branden Grace has warned the leading pack he’s not done with his dream year just yet, as he made his move on day two of the DP World Tour Championship on Friday.
Climbing from tied for 21st on day one with a 69, he’s now tied for second with fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen, a shot off the lead on 134, after firing 65 over the Jumeirah Golf Estates’ par-72, 7,675-yard Earth Course.
In a season where he’s just become the first person in European Tour history to win his first four titles in the same year, Grace is now eager to secure a fifth trophy at the season-ender in Dubai this week to take him up to second place in the Race to Dubai.
“I’m not really over yet,” said Grace. “I think there’s still a lot I want to achieve this year. I really wanted to make a couple of goals for the last event.
“There are a lot of world ranking points up for grabs this week and I want to finish the season as high as I can up the Order of Merit.
“I know winning is out of the question [McIlroy has already won], but it’s never a bad thing maybe if you’re going to finish second.
“If I can win [the tournament] this week, the year will just keep getting better and better.”
He added: “I think today [Friday] and tomorrow [Saturday] is definitely moving day out there. Yesterday [Thursday] you just wanted to get off to a pretty decent start and then take advantage over the next couple of days.”
Grace, 24, is currently sixth on the Race to Dubai money-list with just over €2 million (Dh9,509,605) winnings and stands to win another €1 million if he can continue his charge.
