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South Africa’s Branden Grace, one of the brightest young talents in golf, led from start to finish to celebrate his most impressive victory of the year, winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by two shots at St Andrews from Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen.

From the moment he signed his card after a spectacular first round 60 at Kingsbarns on Thursday, Grace, one of the best front-runners in golf, was a hot favourite to win. And, although he had one or two wobbly moments in his final round on the Old Course, he thoroughly deserved his victory.?Grace, who shot a final round 70 for a 22-under-par total of 266, now joins some of the greatest names in golf – Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Sir Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood and Tiger Woods among them – who have won four European Tour events in the same season.

At 24 years and 140 days, he becomes the youngest winner in Alfred Dunhill Links Championship history and the youngest South African four-time winner in a season, beating the great Ernie Els, who was 32 when he achieved that feat. His victory and the US$800,000 first prize takes him to third in the Race to Dubai, the European Tour’s order of merit.

The tournament, conceived as a celebration of links golf, is played over three of the world’s best known and respected links courses - The Old Course at St Andrews, the Championship Course at Carnoustie and the highly regarded Kingsbarns Golf Links.