Grace finished 3 shots behind eventual champion Chris Paisley of England who carded a 21 under 267 to claim the title but runner-up Grace says it may not be the ideal ending but he is happy with the performance only 2 weeks into the new year.

The Pretoria-born golfer played a consistent SA Open shooting rounds of sub 70 in all but his second round in which he carded a round of 1 under par 71.

Fresh off his victory at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, Grace says he is pleased with how 2018 has begun.

He said: "Not the result I wanted, but I will take a 2nd place in my first week back on the tour even though one bad swing and one bad putt really cost me the whole day."

"These things happen for a reason but, the fact remains, I'm still happy with the outcome, I'm going to be back and hopefully I'll get my hands on it (SA Open Trophy) sooner or later," Grace added.

The European Tour now moves to the Abu Dhabi Golf Club for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Gold Championships that tees off on Thursday.