South African Branden Grace may not have been everyone’s hot tip for the Volvo Golf Champions title over The Links at Fancourt in January, but local knowledge – he learned his trade at the Ernie Els Academy at Fancourt – and a sublime run of form took the title from a host of more illustrious names to earn his place in the 2012 Volvo World Match Play Championship.
Grace had won the Joburg Open the week before the Volvo Golf Champions, having previously won the Coca Cola Championship, also at Fancourt, in 2010 before making it a Volvo double by winning the recent Volvo China Open at Binhai Lake Golf Club in Tianjin, where he edged-out defending champion Nicolas Colsaerts by three to win the €398,595 first prize.
Branden Grace will be going all-out for a fourth win of the season to date, and with him once again, on the bag will be his coloured caddie, fellow-South African Zack Rasego, who caddied for Louis Oosthuizen when winning the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews.
Branden Grace qualified for the 2012 Volvo World Match Play Championship by winning one of the five qualifying events, the 2012 Volvo Golf Champions.