Some of the United Kingdom’s top golf journalists travelled south to cover the Volvo Golf Champions and all of them have been impressed by the Fancourt Links course used for the prestige, 35-man event.

The Fancourt Links is rated South Africa’s top course but it was pleasing to see the visiting journalists saying it lived up to its reputation, especially as the United Kingdom is the home of links courses.

While Fancourt, which lies perhaps a dozen kilometres from the sea, cannot truly be described as a genuine links course, the journalists said it was an impressive attempt to recreate the feel of classics such as Portmarnock, Royal Dublin, Carnoustie, Royal Birkdale and St Andrew’s.

“Normally I’m very skeptical about faux links courses, for example I didn’t enjoy Whistling Straits when the PGA was held there, it put the sham into the shamrock if you like,” Irish Independent golf correspondent Karl McGinty told SuperGolf.

“But this is a fantastic place and a wonderful course. On Saturday, when the wind blew and it was overcast and rainy, it was like a mild summer’s day in Ireland, but I was very impressed. We suddenly found out what everyone has been talking about and it was a wonderful test,” McGinty said.

Lewine Mair, the European correspendent for Global Golf Post.com, didn’t particularly like the plastic used to rivet the bunkers, but overall she was very impressed with Fancourt.

“It’s such a fantastic venue that I just wonder about the plastic rivetting of the bunkers. I understand it works in terms of maintenance, but I feel such a classy course deserves the old turf blocks.

“But it’s an absolutely amazing place, it blows you away and they’ve done a terrific job – one of the best links creations I’ve seen,” Mair said.

Freelance golf writer and author Graham Otway said he was concerned when Nicolas Colsaerts and others were able to take the course apart on the first two days.

“It’s rated the toughest links course in South Africa, but you question that when you see Colsaerts shoot 64 on the first day and Lee Slattery 65 on the second. But when the pin positions are generous and the weather even more so, these guys can destroy any course.

“But Saturday was the true test of this golf course. Once the wind started to blow, it took no prisoners and that is a better way of measuring its degree of difficulty. It lived up to its reputation,” Otway said.

As Otway pointed out, a true links course is all about the coastal sand dunes that lie beneath and should drain water rapidly, leaving the course dry.

“The Fancourt course has a genuine links feel about it, but I still don’t like the word used outside of its historical context of golf played on the wasteland that linked beaches with the farmland beyond. An inland links, however cleverly built, cannot truly match the real thing,” Otway said.

Mair marvelled at the back tees at Fancourt and joked that it might say something about our future evolution as human beings.

“It’s a real man-sized course and the mind boggles that there are tees even further back than the ones they used. I presume it’s so the course is ready for the next generation of long-hitters – whether they be apes or humans or whatever!” she said.

Otway bemoaned the fact that there are so few chances these days to see professionals put under real pressure on the golf course.

“It’s a pity that tour players don’t get challenges like this more often. Life is very easy for them most weeks and they don’t have to learn how to cope with challenges,” he said.

Volvo, the tournament creators, have also been impressed and the chances are good that the event will return to South Africa in the future.

“Fancourt is a special, world-class venue and we are very impressed with the people and management. Long-term, we definitely want to move the tournament around and showcase it all over the world, but we will certainly look at bringing it back here every third or fourth year,” Per Ericsson, the president of Volvo Event Management, said.

Branden Grace wants to crack the world’s top 50 and make it to the Masters following his extraordinary second consecutive European Tour title after his victory at the Volvo Golf Champions at the Fancourt Links on Sunday.

“One of my goals is definitely to make the top 50. I just need to keep grinding on and to get to the Masters would be indescribable,” Grace said after his dramatic playoff victory.

Grace prevailed over his fellow South Africans Ernie Els and Retief Goosen and the 23-year-old said beating them had made his victory even sweeter.

“Lying in bed last night, I was reading articles about the tournament and I saw that there were 14 major wins behind me. It was unbelievable to win a tournament of this calibre and to beat two of my idols in a playoff is awesome,” Grace said.

It was an awful missed putt on the 72nd hole of regulation play that ensured Grace would have to join them in a playoff after his par on the 18th hole left the trio tied on 12-under-par. Grace shovelled a four-foot putt wide of the hole and his misfortune was repeated by Nicolas Colsaerts, who smashed a three-foot putt past the hole moments later to drop out of contention.

“If you make that sort of putt, you’re the hero, but when I missed it, I didn’t think I’d hit a bad putt, it was just a bit low on speed. It’s just one of those things, I didn’t really think of it being on the last hole because I knew we had one left,” Grace said.

The George Golf Club representative has always featured highly in the opinions of respected South African golf judges and finally seems to be fulfilling his undoubted potential. Grace celebrated his 50th European Tour start with his maiden victory at last week’s Joburg Open and became just the sixth golfer to win their first two events back-to-back.

“I would’ve preferred to have won much earlier in my career but I’ve learnt the hard way. I’ve been on tour, I’ve lost my card but sometimes it’s not bad going backwards to go forwards. I’ve learnt my lesson and I know for a fact that I’m a better player than before,” Grace said.

An analysis of Grace’s final round 71 shows that he hit 12 out of 14 fairways and made 14 out of 18 greens in regulation and it was clear he has an affinity for the Fancourt Links.

“I really wanted to do well and perform here at home, so it’s a dream come true. It’s unbelievable to win a tournament of this calibre,” Grace said.

“Amazing” and “phenomenal” were the other words Grace used to describe his double triumph and he is the fifth South African to win back-to-back European Tour titles. Dale Hayes was the first to do it when he won the Italian and French Opens in 1978, before Els claimed the Dubai Desert Classic and Qatar Masters titles in 2005. The other two instances have been during the Sunshine Tour’s co-sanctioned summer swing, with Richard Sterne winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship and South African Open in 2009 and Charl Schwartzel triumphing in the 2010 Africa and Joburg Opens.

Branden Grace knew there would always be chances for bogeys on Saturday, but he put his mistakes behind him and held on to a share of the lead after the third round of the Volvo Golf Champions at the Fancourt Links on Saturday.

On a day when only 10 of the 35-man field were under-par and there were two quadruple-bogeys and five triple-bogeys, Grace’s two-over-par 75 was actually a solid round and it left him on 10-under overall, tied with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts for the lead.

Grace started badly with two bogeys on the first three holes and he also made two double-bogeys on the back nine, on the par-four 12th and par-three 17th holes. But he also picked up four birdies and he was satisfied with his efforts on a rainy, blustery day in the Southern Cape.

“I always knew there’d be mistakes on the card, but I still played really well because the conditions were really tough. I handled it well and made some good saves to limit the damage,” Grace said after his round.

“I actually thought it was very good golf on the first five holes, I just missed one shot, when I mis-hit an eight-iron. Otherwise, I striped my drive on the first and unluckily it bounced into the pot bunker.

“The same again on 12, it was a great drive but it just had a big bounce right on one of the slopes and it ended up in a pot bunker. It makes the hole very long because you can’t really hit the ball a long way then, you have to go sideways and it leaves you with a very long club in.

“On 17, I just went for it a little bit more than I should have, I hit it a bit too hard and I was over the back of the green, which you don’t want to play with,” Grace explained.

But the 23-year-old didn’t allow the mishap to get him down and he promptly birdied the last hole to ensure he will go into the final round with a fabulous chance of pulling off back-to-back victories after his breakthrough triumph in last weekend’s Joburg Open.

“I’m still happy, I’m still in there. I’ll take two-over today and I’ll just stick to my own game tomorrow,” Grace said.