Grace goes back-to-back
Monday, 23 January 2012
Branden Grace's dream run of form continued on Sunday as the 23-year-old took out the Volvo Golf Champions event in George, South Africa.
The South African, who only graduated from European Tour Q-School last month, was the last man to qualify for the event when he took out the Joburg Open last Sunday.
And he made it two wins in two weeks by holding off South African major winners Ernie Els - who shot a 67 on Sunday - and Retief Goosen in the first hole of a play-off at Fancourt to claim the 350,000-euro first prize.
Grace made life difficult for himself when he missed a straightforward birdie putt on 18 that would have won him the tournament outright, but Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts will be even more disappointed after botching a simple putt of his own to miss out on the play-off.
The South African trio finished locked on 12 under, with Colsaerts a shot back, but matters were decided on the first play-off hole - the 18th - when Grace found the front of the green and managed to two-putt for birdie, while Goosen and Els had to be content with par.
Earlier, Els had rocketed into contention after finishing his round on six-under the card, while Goosen shot a three-under 70 to join him at the head of the leaderboard.
South African Charl Schwartzel finished in fifth place on 10 under the card, two strokes ahead of Spanish veteran Jose Maria Olazabal.
Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin and South African Louis Oosthuizen finished tied for seventh on six under.
Matthew Zions, the only Australian in the field, finished in a tie for 26th at three over.