SA's Stingers pay tribute to late golfer Bland with blue ribbons and a win at LIV Tulsa

Along with his fellow Stingers teammates, South African golfer Branden Grace, who came close to sealing his second LIV Golf title before losing out in a playoff in Tulsa on Sunday, paid tribute to his friend and Sunshine Tour legend John Bland, who passed away last week.

South Africa's LIV Golf team, the Stingers GC, which includes Grace, Louis Oosthuizen, Dean Burmester and Charl Schwartzel, wore blue ribbons to commemorate the late Bland whose career boasted 19 Sunshine Tour titles and two DP World Tour titles.

READ | SA's Branden Grace loses playoff to Dustin Johnson at LIV Golf event in Tulsa

"Obviously, [he's a] very good mate of mine. I've known him forever," said Grace, who, like Bland, lived at Fancourt.

"Just thinking about him ... His favourite colour was blue, he supported the Blue Bulls. I reached out to his wife, who I know pretty well, and thought if there's a colour ribbon, what would he have liked? And blue it is.

"We're all thinking of him, and maybe he looked down on us today."

The Stingers claimed a second victory by one stroke over the 4Aces when Grace, who ended up in a three-way play-off with eventual champion Dustin Johnson and Open champion Cameron Smith, sunk a par putt on the final hole of regulation to give the South Africans the team title with a 40-under total.

"I thought I made my putt on the first playoff hole. But it was going to be one of those days where you had to dig deep, play well," Grace said in a press conference on Sunday.

"At the end, it was not bittersweet, but I know I put in a lot of hard work and it's paid off, and the team really wanted this one.

"We've been fourth a few times and got over the line to get to the top three a couple of weeks back, and this is a big one for us, and now