Trevor Immelman made use of immense local knowledge to capture his second consecutive South African Airways Open title at the Erinvale Course on Sunday.

The resident pro here held his nerve as the Helderberg wind carved up the rest of the field.

After predicting that he would attack swiftly on the final day so that he could win the tournament, Immelman kept to his promise to shoot an impressive 67 which completed a four-round aggregate tally of 276.

Immelman won the tournament by three shots from Scotland's Alastair Forsyth and Englishman Steve Webster.

With the victory, Immelman becomes the first player since compatriot Ernie Els to successfully defend a European Tour title.

And while Els' double victory came in the Heineken Classic in 2002 and 2003, Immelman also became the first player since another South African legend, Gary Player in 1976-77, to win back to back SAA Open titles.

Yet it was more than his ability to play an unforgiving south easterly in blustery conditions that made him champion. Immelman did it the only way he knew how - by all-out attack.

It was his fifth professional title - all on the African continent following his 2000 Tusker Kenya Open win and his 2000 Vodacom Players Championship and 2003 Dimension Data Pro-Am titles.

Immelman's prospects were helped by his two nearest challengers - overnight leaders Craig Lile and Denmark's Anders Hansen - each playing the final three holes in five over par, dropping them out of the race.

Asked about fulfilling his own prediction, Immelman remained humble after a victory which netted him close to £75,000.

He said: "I wasn't going to sit there and hope that I played well. I felt like I was playing well and I felt if I played my best it would be tough for the other guys to beat me.

"Today my game plan was for me to trust my swing and not back down from any shots. Just trust it and be aggressive. I stuck with that game plan for the back nine and tried to hit the best shots that I can."

He started his round with a bogey on the second hole, as he misjudged his approach shot, left it way short and then three-putted to drop a shot.

But from there it was all plain sailing, as Immelman grabbed birdies on holes three, four, seven and eight to reach the turn just behind the leaders.

Yet it was his back nine, where he sunk three birdies as the others faltered, that showed the maturity of the Sunshine Tour commissioner's son.

On the 10th he sunk a 30-foot putt to draw level, and and then on the par-five 13th, where partner Webster scrambled to bogey, he hit his four-iron approach shot off the green and played "one of the best chips of my life" to set himself up for another birdie.

He produced a similar chip on the 16th but then dropped a shot on the 18th by missing from three feet, as his putt lipped the cup.

The bogey there did little but add minor irritation value to the champion's day.

"I was very disappointed to miss that putt. I don't really know what happened there. I knew though that on the 18th I had a four-shot lead and knew it didn't cost me too much, but I am still disappointed I missed that shot," added Immelman.

The 16th blew any chances that Hansen had of the title, as he double-bogeyed the hole after sending his tee shot way left.

Lile followed suit on the 17th with a quadruple-bogey nightmare on the par-four hole to kill off his hopes.

Immelman, who had not looked like a champion on the first two days, added that a dramatic change of attitude helped him storm back.

But it was his own familiarity with the course which was initially his own nemesis.

"It's a huge advantage to play here but at times it can work against you," he said.

"I've hit so many shots from so many different positions on this golf course.

"Sometimes I get the yardage and I doubt it, whether it will play shorter or not, and that happened on the first two days. On those two days I was thinking way too much there.

"I was getting the yardage and I was thinking too much about it. We just decided on Friday night that we weren't going to leave any more wedge shots short of the hole. I wanted to be aggressive and trust the yardages."

In fourth place was another South African, Darren Fichardt, whose closing 70 gave him a 281 aggregate, putting him one shot clear of English pair David Carter and Miles Tunnicliff, Australian Marcus Fraser and France's Raphael Jacquelin.

Hansen finished in a share of ninth after a 76, while Lile's 77 left him in a seven-strong group of players tied for 16th, alongside Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood - who respectively finished with rounds of 69 and 71.

The European Tour now moves to Houghton in Johannesburg for the Dunhill Challenge, which starts on Thursday.

Collated final round scores and totals in the South African Airways Open, Erinvale Golf Club , South Africa (Rsa unless stated, par 72):

276 Trevor Immelman 71 69 69 67

279 Steve Webster (Eng) 66 75 67 71, Alastair Forsyth (Sco) 68 69 74 68

281 Darren Fichardt 69 75 67 70

282 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 74 71 67 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 68 71 70 73, David Carter (Eng) 74 69 71 68, Miles Tunnicliff (Eng) 70 71 72 69

283 Nico Van Rensburg 67 70 75 71, Anders Hansen (Den) 70 69 68 76, Stephen Dodd (Wal) 65 73 72 73, Titch Moore 71 69 75 68, Brett Rumford (Aus) 64 74 73 72, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 72 74 67, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 67 72 75 69

284 Craig Lile 69 68 70 77, James Kingston 70 73 70 71, Nic Henning 75 70 67 72, Lee Westwood (Eng) 71 72 70 71, Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 68 78 69 69, Hennie Otto 66 74 79 65, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 73 71 75 65

285 Ian Poulter (Eng) 71 71 71 72, Justin Rose (Eng) 73 72 68 72, Simon Wakefield (Eng) 70 69 75 71, Martin Maritz 70 75 75 65

286 Paul McGinley (Irl) 76 68 71 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 79 72 67, Jonathan Lomas (Eng) 73 74 70 69, Andrew Marshall (Eng) 73 74 68 71, David Lynn (Eng) 76 70 68 72

287 Alan Michell 68 73 74 72, Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 70 70 75 72, Charl Schwartzel 77 70 65 75, Scott Dunlap (USA) 72 70 73 72, Louis Oosthuizen 75 72 69 71, Deane Pappas 71 76 70 70

288 Desvonde Botes 69 71 73 75, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 69 74 73 72, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 76 70 72, Philip Golding (Eng) 72 73 68 75, David Howell (Eng) 71 74 70 73, Trevor Dodds (Nam) 70 76 71 71, Thabang Simon 74 71 72 71

289 Peter Baker (Eng) 69 77 71 72, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 72 76 70, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 69 76 73 71, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 74 72 72, Hendrik Buhrmann 66 78 73 72, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 72 75 74 68

290 Peter Lawrie (Irl) 71 74 72 73, Shaun Norris 70 73 71 76, Albert Kruger 71 75 70 74, Chris Gane (Eng) 73 72 75 70, Paul Lawrie (Sco) 72 73 73 72

291 Nic Lawrence 75 72 74 70, Ulrich Van Den Berg 76 69 78 68, Andrew Coltart (Sco) 71 72 76 72

292 Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 73 74 71 74, Jamie Spence (Eng) 71 76 71 74

293 Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 70 74 73 76, Marcel Siem (De) 68 75 74 76, Wayne Westner 76 71 73 73, Andre Cruse 73 73 74 73, Raymond Russell (Sco) 75 72 72 74, Sean Farrell (Zw) 72 75 75 71

294 Simon Hurd (Eng) 75 70 77 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 74 73 74, Tyrol Auret 68 74 81 71

295 Roger Chapman (Eng) 72 74 70 79, Bafana Hlophe 72 74 76 73, Michiel Bothma 70 73 77 75, Michael Lamb (Zim) 74 69 75 77

296 Desmond Terblanche 74 72 78 72

298 Eugene Marugi 75 72 73 78

299 Justin Walters 74 72 77 76