Branden Grace’s impressive victory in the Joburg Open at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club on Sunday made it a wonderful fortnight for former members of the Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation.

Former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen won last weekend’s Africa Open in East London, but Grace’s one-shot triumph in Johannesburg was a breakthrough victory for one of South Africa’s most talented youngsters.

Els himself was impressed.

“I’m very proud of him. It’s been an outstanding year for the foundation – last week it was Louis winning and now Branden. I couldn’t have asked for more.

“It’s great to see former members doing so well and their performances will definitely motivate the current members of the foundation,” Els said from his Herold’s Bay holiday home.

The victory will turn Grace from a bright South African prospect into an up-and-coming star of the European Tour, something that the 23-year-old has threatened to do for some time.

Grace’s last foray into Europe – in 2009 – left him rather battered and bruised but, after regaining his card at Q-School last month, he can now kick back and enjoy an exemption until the end of 2013.

“It’s awesome, after just getting my card now I have this exemption. The win is going to get me into a lot of events I never thought I’d be playing in,” Grace said after his maiden European Tour win.

What made Grace’s win even more impressive was that he achieved it by finishing with nine straight pars – pointing to a level head while all the other frontrunners were scrambling around like victims of an anthrax attack.

The other two members of his three-ball – George Coetsee and Richard Finch – crashed to rounds of 75 and 78 respectively.

“I played superbly today, my approach shots were amazing. I couldn’t dream of better approach shots than what I played on the last five holes,” Grace said. “I told myself first of all not to mess up and then to just keep giving myself chances.”

While Finch struggled on the greens and allowed it to be his funeral (he three-putted three times on the front nine), Grace did not let an uncooperative putter get to him.

“The opportunities were there, but I struggled to get the speed and line together. The greens were immaculate, but if you were a little bit off, you ended four feet away. I went out there today thinking the greens would be quicker, but as soon as you really want to make a putt, you hit it a bit too hard and it goes four feet past. The next one you lag a bit and it ends four feet short.

“But a big thanks to Zack [Rasego, his caddy], who told me I hadn’t hit a bad putt all day and eventually my pace came good,” Grace said.

There was an atmosphere of nervous tension at the start as Grace teed off with Coetzee and Finch just three shots behind, but the George-based golfer said he felt good, even at the turn when Jamie Elson eagled his 18th hole to close to within a shot of Grace.

“I actually thought I’d be more nervous. I didn’t really look at the leaderboard because I knew it would be up to my performance. I stuck to my game plan and kept hitting good shot after good shot,” Grace said.

Grace will now be playing in the lucrative, winners’-only Volvo Golf Champions event close to home at Fancourt starting on Thursday and is looking forward to making more of an impact in Europe now that he is older and wiser.

“It’s an unbelievable, amazing feeling, the win has been coming a long time and I really wanted to play in the Volvo.

“The last time I played in Europe, I wasn’t ready. My golf was good, but it wasn’t great. But I’ve grown so much in the last couple of years and taking a couple of steps back was maybe the best thing to happen to me,” Grace said.