LIV Golf member Branden Grace was denied the opportunity to earn a spot at The Open Championship after play at the South African Open was cancelled on Sunday.
Grace was one of three LIV players in action in their home open, with the Stinger GC star joining two of his teammates in Charl Schwarzel and Dean Burmester. As well as winning his home event for the second time, there was plenty more at stake for Grace.
As part of The Open's Qualifying Series, the top three players not already qualified following the end of play in Durban this week were handed a spot to play at Royal Portrush in July.
And heading into Sunday's final round, Grace put himself in a strong position to secure one of those spots, sitting tied-third alongside Christiaan Maas and Darren Fichardt. What is more, the LIV star was only two shots behind the leaders, with Laurie Canter and Dylan Naidoo tied at the top at 14-under-par.
The tournament was cut short though, as torrential rain saw the course flooded, leading to event organisers ending play after 54 holes. To decide the champion, Canter and Naidoo were able to return to compete in a playoff, with the latter prevailing after making a birdie in the shootout at the 18th.
This decided one of The Open spots, with the other two up for grabs with Canter already qualified for the final major of the year. The man sat second after three rounds was Marco Penge, who was given his Portrush place, whilst deciding the third proved a tad trickier with three tied on the same score.
Per R&A rules the spot was handed to Fichardt due to holding a superior spot in the Official World Golf Ranking to Grace and Maas. It will have been a difficult pill to swallow for the LIV man, who not only missed out on winning the title on Sunday, but also a return to the major scene for the first time in two years.
His failure to qualify once again heightens LIV's problems with the OWGR list. Their lack of world ranking recognition has proved a kink in the armour of the breakaway league, having seen a whole host of their big names slump down the ranking list since making the switch.
Grace is a perfect example of this, a former top-10 player in the world during his time on the PGA Tour, now sitting outside the top-500 players in the world. An impressive performance in Durban however will be a positive sign for the South African, who was offered a reprieve to return to the LIV setup earlier this year having been relegated from the breakaway league in September 2024.
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