Retief Goosen is back on top of the European Order of Merit he won last year after a massive eight-shot win in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth on Sunday.

But do not try telling the US Open champion it was easy. He says he now knows how Greg Norman felt at the 1996 Masters.

Norman famously lost to Nick Faldo by five shots after taking a six-stroke lead into the final day and when Goosen kicked off his final round at Lake Karrinyup with a dire double-bogey six a nightmare vision appeared in his mind.

The difference, though, was that the South African began the day with a European tour record 13-stroke lead and to lose he needed to have about 10 horror holes rather than just one.

It never happened and even with a closing 73 Goosen could look back on the biggest victory of his career.

He took the £150,000 first prize with a 14-under-par total of 274 and, as everybody anticipated, the only real battle was for the runners-up place.

Ryder Cup Swede Pierre Fulke took it with a 35-foot closing putt for a best-of-the-day 66 which pushed Sergio Garcia into third place and Ernie Els into fourth.

"I agree with Greg Norman when he said he'd rather have a two-shot lead than a much bigger one entering the final round," commented Goosen.

"There's so much pressure on you when you are expected to win. It's a funny feeling and it's very difficult.

"I was just trying to hang in there, telling myself to stay calm and focused and I only started relaxing after the 17th.

"The first hole was a bit of a shock. I don't know what happened."

The 32-year-old, having seen playing partners Garcia and Els smash drivers just off the green at the 298-yard hole, hit a five-iron for safety. Or at least that was the intention. Goosen sliced it into a bush whose locally-known name has been changed for political correctness from "black boy" to "grass tree".

He took a penalty drop, but caught branches with his next shot and moved it only about 10 yards, almost hitting a scorer.

With Els making birdie the 13-shot lead instantly became "only" 10 and when Garcia birdied the second Goosen was trying not to think about last September's Lancome Trophy in Paris, where the Spaniard beat him from four behind with four to play.

Only when he holed from 40 feet on the short fifth did Goosen start looking like the player who had broken the course record with his Saturday 63.

He did run up another six at the long 15th and also bogeyed the last, but there were further birdies at the 11th and 16th as attention turned to the race for second.

Fulke's performance was easily his best since he reached the final of the Accenture world match play 12 months ago - also in Australia.

"Obviously I was playing for second place, but I hadn't touched a club for nine weeks, so it's a good effort," he said.

"I wanted to forget about last year, regroup and start all over again. I'm not frustrated like I was - I'm fresh and clear in my mind.

"I tried to make some swing changes, but they didn't go too well and when you play badly and travel a lot it becomes difficult.

"Then there was the scare of not playing well in September (prior to the postponement of the Ryder Cup match). It felt like I had to get my swing working by then.

"I promise you it will be better this year!"

Garcia, who began the month by winning the Mercedes Championship on the US Tour, commented: "What Goose did was unbelievable, but there is no way I should have been only five under. I couldn't make a single putt.

"It was going to be very difficult to win, but I wanted to get second. The way I hit the ball I should have done easily and that's very disappointing. But third is not bad."

Yorkshire's Simon Dyson and Londoner Anthony Wall shared fifth place on one under, while 19-year-old Liverpudlian Nick Dougherty, third at the qualifying school last November, was joint eighth and his mentor Faldo only a stroke further back in 10th.

Justin Rose, who pushed Goosen into second place in South Africa last week, managed only a closing 74 to drop to 17th, however, and Lee Westwood, like Faldo in his first outing of the year, double-bogeyed the last for a second successive 76 and 58th place on 10 over.

Tennis star Pat Rafter, named on Friday as "Australian of the Year", flew in to see the victory by Goosen, named last month as South Africa's "Sportsman of the Year".

The difference between them is that one is in retirement and the other is very, very active. So active, in fact, that Goosen says he is planning to buy a bigger trophy cabinet for his London home.

Collated final totals in the Johnnie Walker Classic at Lake Karrinyup, Perth, Australia

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

274 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 68 63 73 (£150,000)

282 Pierre Fulke (Swe) 72 70 74 66 (£100,000)

283 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 73 72 69 (£56,340)

286 Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 71 71 72 (£45,000)

287 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 75 72 72 68, Simon Dyson 71 74 70 72, Anthony Wall 71 75 69 72

288 Nick Dougherty 74 76 68 70, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 73 73 71 71

289 Nick Faldo 71 73 74 71, Peter Fowler (Aus) 71 77 70 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 67 72 78 72, Wayne Riley (Aus) 77 70 69 73

290 Craig Parry (Aus) 78 69 71 72, Jamie Donaldson 73 75 70 72, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 72 70 73

291 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 77 73 69 72, S Alker (Nzl) 75 65 77 74, David Howell 75 71 71 74, Justin Rose 78 71 68 74

292 Scott Gardiner (Aus) 75 76 69 72

293 Thomas Levet (Fra) 75 70 76 72, Peter Lonard (Aus) 79 68 74 72, James McLean (Aus) 78 70 72 73, Yeh Wei-tze (Tai) 71 76 72 74, Santiago Luna (Spa) 74 75 75 69

294 Niclas Fasth (Swe) 72 72 78 72, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 74 76 73 71, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 73 76 72 73, Brett Rumford (Aus) 71 77 73 73, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 76 72 72 74, Greg Turner (Nzl) 74 73 76 71, Adam Crawford (Aus) 74 72 73 75, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 76 73 75, Craig Jones (Aus) 71 72 74 77

295 Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 73 76 73 73, Brendan Jones (Aus) 79 72 70 74, Mark Allen (Aus), Ian Garbutt 74 77 72 72, David Lynn 78 72 72 73, Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 77 73 70 75

296 Steve Webster 75 72 75 74, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 76 72 74 74, Richard Green (Aus) 73 72 75 76, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 74 74 72 76, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 80 74 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 73 75 75 73, Ed Stedman (Aus) 74 74 71 77, Hirokazu Kuniyoshi (Jpn) 75 73 76 72, Masanori Kobayashi (Jpn) 82 69 74 71

297 Steen Tinning (Den) 78 72 72 75, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 74 73 72 78, Jonathan Lomas 76 72 75 74, Scott Laycock (Aus) 73 78 74 72, Anthony Kang (Kor) 74 75 76 72, David Carter 73 76 76 72, Anders Forsbrand (Swe) 78 69 79 71

298 Lee Westwood 72 74 76 76, Andrew Bonhomme (Aus) 73 73 76 76, Wang Ter-chang (Tai) 72 79 72 75, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 77 73 74 74, Anthony Painter (Aus) 73 76 75 74, Dean Robertson 72 78 76 72

299 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 77 72 79, Andrew Coltart 74 77 73 75, John Bickerton 76 75 76 72

300 Barry Lane 75 74 73 78, Gary Emerson 72 79 72 77, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 76 77 75

301 Scott Hend (Aus) 77 73 73 78, James Kingston (Rsa) 74 76 76 75, Nathan Gatehouse (Aus) 76 74 76 75

302 Tobias Dier (Ger) 75 71 77 79, David Armstrong (Aus) 77 74 75 76

303 Lucas Parsons (Aus) 75 76 75 77, Peter Senior (Aus) 75 75 76 77, Craig Spence (Aus) 71 80 76 76, Martin Doyle (Aus) 74 75 78 76, Terry Price (Aus) 80 70 78 75

305 Stephen Gallacher 72 75 81 77

306 Kenny Druce (Aus) 79 72 78 77, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 77 74 81 74

312 Vivek Bhandari (Ind) 78 73 81 80