Branden Grace will look back with some regret on his two bogeys in 36 holes on Saturday as he missed out on regaining his spot with Stinger GC by two strokes in the LIV Golf Promotions event at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia.
Grace fought his way through to the final dash for the one spot available, and carded a four-under-par 67 in the morning round, dropping a shot on the third hole. He reached four-under in the afternoon, by the 11th hole, but he was unable to take advantage of either of the par-fives on the back nine. He dropped just his second shot of the day on the 17th, but made up for that with a birdie on the 18th.
In the end, he was two shots behind the man who won a spot on the 2025 roster for the league, Lee Chieh-po, known as Max, from Chinese Taipei. The 30-year-old Lee becomes the first player from his country to earn full-time status in LIV Golf. He hopes his victory and presence in the league will inspire other golfers from his country.
“It means a lot for our players,” said the Asian Tour regular, who won for the first time at this year’s International Series Thailand. “LIV Golf, I think it’s many players’ dream. I go there and they will come.”
A total of 92 players began the week hoping for a chance to join LIV Golf. All players who finished inside the top 10 will receive exemptions to all 10 tournaments on The International Series on the Asian Tour in 2025.
That is some consolation for Grace, as it gives him some scaffolding around which he can build a schedule for the year. Perhaps some events on the DP World Tour can be added to that, as well as more work on some Asian Tour events as he tries to rebuild some status which has been lost from his plunge down the Official World Golf Ranking list since his move to the ostracised LIV Golf set-up.
