Branden Grace was delighted to be back where he feels he belongs after a 71 moved him to three under after two rounds at the 2021 US PGA Championship.
The South African recorded five top ten finishes in ten Major Championships between 2015 and 2017, the last of those coming as he recorded the lowest round ever in one of golf's big four with a 62 at The Open Championship.
He won a maiden Rolex Series event at the 2017 Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player but then had to wait over two years before winning the first staging of the South African Open in 2020.
That victory saw him complete his set of the biggest trophies in South African golf after also winning the Joburg Open, Alfred Dunhill Championship and Dimension Data Pro-Am.
That taste for the big stage has brought him nine wins in total on the European Tour and he sees no reason why he cannot get into double figures at Kiawah Island.
Grace is two shots clear and playing some great Golf 👏#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/2sXDZ6Hkui
— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) May 21, 2021
"I believe that I should be out here," he said. "I believe that I should be a top 30 player in the world and I believe I should win.
"I've contended in these big events before. There's no reason why I can't contend in them now, especially around a golf course like this.
"It kind of goes into how I like to play golf. I love the dive off courses and it's just literally getting the ball low, getting it on the ground and letting it run and be creative around the greens and really commit to what you want to do."
The 33-year-old held a two shot lead on The Ocean Course after birdies on the second, seventh, tenth - via a holed bunker shot - and 13th but he found the water at the 17th for a double bogey and failed to get up and down on the last after finding sand off the tee.
I've contended in these big events before. There's no reason why I can't contend in them now, especially around a golf course like this
"You kind of knew that final stretch was going to play tough," he said.
"I want to say, even with that bad couple of holes, I still got the most out of my round. I hit some shots where I shouldn't have and I made some up-and-downs.
"I'll take it. I'm exactly where anybody would want to be going into the weekend."
Christiaan Bezuidenhout replaced countryman Grace as South African Open Champion in the second 2020 staging of that event - the first of back to back European Tour victories - and he was alongside his countryman at three under after a 70.
He eagled the seventh from 30 feet and made a birdie on the par five 11th but dropped a shot on the 14th after missing the green off the tee.
"It's always nice to be in the top five heading into the weekend," he said. "It's playing pretty hard out here so hoping for a solid couple of days over the weekend.
"I think most of the people can see how tough it is out there. It's a brutal golf course. It plays long, really windy as well.
"I had a better ball-striking day today than what I had yesterday. I gave myself a lot more looks and my putter is heating up nicely, so hopefully I can keep that going for the next couple of days."
