South Africa claimed their second World Cup title in three years on Sunday - but only after holding off a spirited late challenge by England.

Ernie Els and Retief Goosen turned down the chance to regain the title they won in Japan two years ago but Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini proved more than capable deputies.

They carded a final-round 73 for a 13-under-par total of 275 to claim the 1.4 million US dollars first prize at Kiawah Island, four shots ahead of Paul Casey and Justin Rose.

England's closing 67 was the joint lowest of the day, earning them 350,000 US dollars each, and meant they improved on their third-place finish in Mexico 12 months ago.

France's Thomas Levet and Raphael Jacquelin claimed third place a shot behind England, with Ireland's Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley producing a brilliant fightback over the weekend to claim a share of fifth with pre-tournament favourites Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard of the United States.

South Africa began the day seven shots clear of the field, and 10 ahead of England, following a brilliant 63 in Saturday's fourballs.

They were still five ahead at the turn but the gap was down to three when Casey holed birdie putts from 20 feet on the 14th and 15th, and would have been two if the same player's birdie attempt from similar distance on the 16th had not stopped agonisingly short of the hole.

A bogey on the 17th effectively ended England's slim chances of victory but Casey's superb approach to three feet on the last set up another birdie which secured second place ahead of France.

"South Africa were 10 ahead of us at the start of the day so realistically we were looking for second, and just wanted to beat France twice in one day," joked Casey, referring to England's semi-final victory over France at the Rugby World Cup.

"We set a target of shooting 66 to lock up second and we're very happy with the way we played. We've played the foursomes really well and it's frustrating we haven't played the fourballs better. In foursomes we seem to gel nicely.

"We knew South Africa were not making any ground and we were well aware of what second place was."

The pair had not played together in last week's Seve Trophy despite being on the victorious Great Britain and Ireland team, but they could well feature as a Ryder Cup partnership next year.

"Absolutely," added Rose. "Paul is looking good for the team for sure."

Immelman, who is due to get married on December 6, said: ``It's a great feeling.

``We did really well to hang in there on the front nine and our games came together well on the back nine. We were both excited coming here and we had a great week.

``We both played well and holed the vital putts and that's what kept us in it and kept the momentum.

``I hope my fiancee and all the family were watching back in South Africa.''

England's 67 was matched by Harrington and McGinley, who had been out of contention to repeat their 1997 win here since a second-round 77 left them 17th out of the 23 teams at halfway.

But the Ryder Cup team-mates carded a 66 on Saturday and a 67 on Sunday to move into a tie for fifth place on four under, and McGinley said: ``We played poorly the first two days and took ourselves out of the game.

``It was a question of salvaging some pride and I think we've done that. If you don't play well at this level you get punished and we were over the first two days.''

Harrington, who still rates the 1997 victory as his greatest achievement in golf, added: ``The last couple of days we were motivated to get the job done. Today we could have been three or four shots better which is a good effort in foursomes.''

Scotland's Paul Lawrie and Alastair Forsyth finished in a tie for ninth after a closing 74 containing 16 pars and two bogeys, while Wales' Bradley Dredge and Ian Woosnam - second after the first round - came home in 40 to fade to 12th.

Final scores and totals in final round of World Cup, Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, South Carolina: (Par 72):

275 South Africa (Trevor Immelman/Rory Sabbatini) 70 69 63 73 (USD1.4million per team)

279 England (Paul Casey/Justin Rose) 73 73 66 67 ( 700,000)

280 France (Thomas Levet/Raphael Jacquelin) 69 72 68 71 ( 400,000)

282 Germany (Alex Cejka/Marcel Siem) 67 77 67 71 ( 200,000)

284 Ireland (Padraig Harrington/Paul McGinley) 74 77 66 67, United States (Jim Furyk/Justin Leonard) 71 70 68 75 ( 135,000)

285 Japan (Shigeki Maruyama/Hademichi Tanaka) 74 71 71 69, Sweden (Fredrik Jacobson/Niclas Fasth) 72 72 67 74

286 Korea (KJ Choi/SK Ho) 71 75 71 69, Paraguay (Carlos Franco/Marco Ruiz) 70 75 70 71, Scotland (Paul Lawrie/Alastair Forsyth) 71 73 68 74

288 Wales (Bradley Dredge/Ian Woosnam) 68 74 71 75

289 Argentina (Eduardo Romero/Angel Cabrera) 70 73 70 76

293 Spain (Ignacio Garrido/Miguel Angel Jimenez) 71 75 66 81

294 Trinidad & Tobago (Stephen Ames/Robert Ames) 75 81 67 71, New Zealand (Michael Campbell/David Smail) 71 74 72 77, Australia (Stuart Appleby/Stephen Leaney) 72 76 71 75

298 Mexico (Alejandro Quiroz/Antonio Maldonado) 71 78 70 79

301 Denmark (Anders Hansen/Soren Kjeldsen) 72 84 72 73

302 Myanmar (Kyi Hla Han/Aung Win) 72 83 73 74

303 Hong Kong (Derek Fung/James Stewart) 76 80 69 78

304 India (Digvijay Singh/Gaurav Ghei) 81 83 70 70

314 Thailand (Jamnian Chitprasong/Pornsakon Tipsanit) 76 78 76 84