Jose-Maria Olazabal enjoyed the milder weather at Fancourt on Friday as he fired a five-under-par 68 to move into contention after the second round of the Volvo Golf Champions at the Links.

Olazabal moved to seven-under overall, five shots off the scorching pace set by Branden Grace, who was on 12-under with two holes to play.

“Today was a little better, the last two days have been very hot and humid and I struggled a bit. There was a bit more wind today, but overall the conditions were pretty benign,” a happy Olazabal said after his round.

The Spaniard made the elite 35-man field thanks to his 22 career wins on the European Tour, but a bad recent run has seen him slip to number 596 on the world rankings, so Friday’s round provided a welcome return to form.

“The bar wasn’t very high to begin with, so improving on my recent form wasn’t difficult! The last couple of years, I’ve been playing very poorly and I need to improve my driving. I hit lovely shots on the range, but it’s harder to take those on to the course. But there are at least some signs on the range that it’s coming right, so that makes it easier,” Olazabal said.

Of course, Olazabal doesn’t just have his own testing times to worry about on the golf course these days – as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, he also has to study the form of his potential players. The two-time Masters champion said it was important for him to focus on keeping his own play up to scratch as the team captain.

“I made it very clear in September that there is no way I will play in the team, but I would still love to be competitive because then I get to play with my boys and see how they’re doing in this important year,” Olazabal said.

The 45-year-old is playing at Fancourt for the first time and is clearly impressed with the course and estate.

“The practice facilities are fantastic and the whole setting is really beautiful. The set-up of the course is also great and done in a way that you get reward for good shots. And if you miss a shot, you’ll be in trouble, which is fair.

“It’s a great test and we’ve been playing off the forward tees. I can’t imagine how tough it must be off the back tees! But it’s a great course and I would recommend it to anyone,” Olazabal said.

Thomas Aiken shot a fantastic five-under-par 68 in the opening round of the Volvo Golf Champions at Fancourt on Thursday, but was more eager to discuss an issue that should be of importance for all of us proud South Africans.

Aiken appeared at his post-round press conference wearing a “Rhino Revolution” cap and was only too happy to give an explanation.

“I haven’t got a sponsor and I wanted to promote something worthwhile and what could be more worthwhile than saving rhinos? It’s disgusting what’s happening to them, they’re part of the Big Five and it’s a matter of national heritage for all of us, far more important than this golf tournament,” Aiken said.

“I started the Thomas Aiken Rhino Fund and I’ve done my homework about where the money goes. Trevor Jordan of Jordan Properties in Hoedspruit does a fantastic job with Rhino Revolution and I’ve heard people saying about other rhino organisations that you don’t really see where the money goes.”

The Johannesburger pointed out that organisations trying to protect rhinos are struggling to afford the sort of weaponry the poachers are utilising.

“It’s a war and either rhino survive or they go extinct. The poachers get a million dollars a horn so we have a serious financial problem: they have a lot of money and we don’t. We need to fight cleverly – we’re using the money raised for trackers on the ground, roadblocks on the two roads leading out of Hoedspruit and we have help from the air force and their radar station because the poachers are now shooting from helicopters,” Aiken explained.

Rhino Revolution are also hoping to dehorn as many rhino as they can – which Aiken admitted can be controversial.

“We’re trying to dehorn rhino, which is very controversial, but we have fantastic vets doing it and having done over 500 rhino, we haven’t had a single fatality. The horn is like a fingernail, it grows back in about five years and the only problem with dehorning is if one of the rhino gets into a territorial fight with a rhino that still has its horn.”

But Rhino Revolution’s most controversial plan is to legalise the sale of rhino horn and then flood the market to remove the demand.

“We’re trying to legalise the trade and flood the market, so that it brings the price down. We will pump the proceeds back into conservation. At the current rate of poaching, rhino will be extinct in six years, so we have a serious time frame, there’s no time to ‘um and ah’. We’re sticking to our guns and it’s working,” Aiken said.

The Southern Cape is home turf for Branden Grace and he made it count with a fine five-under-par 68 in the opening round of the Volvo Golf Champions at the Fancourt Links on Thursday.

“I’m feeling good, feeling great, it’s nice to play at Fancourt in front of a home crowd and I’m hitting the ball well,” a content Grace said after his round, which left him in a tie for second, four shots behind Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts.

Grace and Thomas Aiken are the leading South Africans after the first round, with Grace enjoying a purple patch after he finished in a tie for 14th at the Africa Open and then claimed the honours in last week’s Joburg Open.

It was the 23-year-old’s first European Tour victory, but Grace has not allowed the good fortune to go to his head or disturb his focus.

“I don’t think the win has settled in so far, I haven’t really had time to sit back and think about it or what happens in the next couple of weeks. But my concentration is still there, although I am a bit tired. I’m on a roll and I just need to keep my head down and run with it,” Grace said.

The George Golf Club representative obviously knows nearby Fancourt extremely well and he admitted that he never thought he’d be as many as four shots behind after shooting a 68.

“You don’t really expect to be four behind after shooting a 68. That’s one helluva score Colsaerts shot and it will be nice to see how he follows up. But he hits it a mile, which definitely helps around here. He’ll be getting close to a lot of the greens and then if he holes some putts, he can come off with that sort of score. It’s nice to know that sort of score is out there,” Grace said.

Life has changed immensely for Grace thanks to his Joburg Open triumph and his mere presence in this elite 35-man field is one of the benefits. He had the privilege of playing with Ryder Cup captain and two-time Masters champion Jose-Maria Olazabal on Thursday.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it, he’s one of my role-models. He’s a great gentleman and you can just see by the way he conducts himself on the course that he is all-class. He’s the Ryder Cup captain for a reason.

“He cracked the odd joke, he told me when I did something good, a good swing, good shot. It was awesome playing with him and nice to get off to a good start playing with somebody like that,” Grace said.

The former Fancourt Foundation member began with a birdie on the first hole, but the putter then misbehaved on the par-four third and fourth holes, leading to successive bogeys. But the highlight of his round came on the 568-yard ninth hole, which he eagled.

“I hit my drive over the trap and had 257 yards to the green. The green is really hard to hit and you’ve got to miss it in the right place. I hit a great three-wood and missed it right, from where I chipped in.”

Grace admitted that the eagle had “jump-started” his round and he birdied the next two holes as he cruised through the back nine in four-under-par 33.