By John Tully-Jackson
The change to the Desert Swing schedule is clearly very much to Branden Grace’s liking. What hasn’t changed is his ability to go low.

The South African produced a bogey-free 65 Friday to back up his opening 68, leaving him -11 going into the weekend at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic. The 29-year-old hasn’t played in Dubai since a T-55 finish in 2015 but the European Tour’s decision to schedule Abu Dhabi and Dubai back-to-back this year is already paying dividends.

“This is not a normal stop for me on the schedule. Normally start in South Africa and Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and by that the time this comes, a little exhausted. This year it worked out this way. Normally play well in the second week in the Middle East, so maybe it’s a good omen for this week.”

Grace is indeed something of a desert specialist, having claimed back-to-back Qatar Masters titles in 2016 and 2017 in the slot in the calendar now taken by Dubai. It seems the timing of his stroll around the Majlis is near perfect, just like his play Friday. Tee-to-green, was that close to your best?

“I think so. To be quite honest, I don’t know if I missed any fairways today. I know the 15th was my first time I missed the green and it was literally a foot off the green, as well. The ball-striking was pretty much on.

“The last couple of weeks, I’m getting it around golf course but doesn’t always feel good. Today I must say, I felt free and I felt in control and I felt that the distances were right. I was pin-high most of the time. So the ball-striking was there. That was a key.”

The world No.29 is no stranger to going low, highlighted by his historic 62 in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale last July. He’s kept the deep red figures flowing since, winning his eighth European Tour title at November’s Nedbank Golf Challenge before starting 2018 with a second place finish in the SA Open. He was T-15 in Abu Dhabi last week – a encouraging performance which included an eight-under-par 64.

Grace also seems to have a secret weapon spurring him on in the form of wife Nieke, his sometimes caddy. After Friday’s fog delay, it was Mrs. Grace that gave him some parting advice before he headed to the 10th tee (his first).

“I think I had like two hours of putting on and off early this morning because they kept on delaying it a little bit, a little bit at a time. So I told her, I had pretty much two hours before.

“And she said, ‘well, you’ve got no excuse not to putt well today.’ So it worked out, it was good.”