Retief Goosen held off a determined challenge from compatriot Ernie Els to win the South African Airways Open at Fancourt.

Els, who won the Dunhill Championship last week, looked to have blown his chances of back-to-back victories on home soil when he double-bogeyed the 12th after pulling his second shot into a water hazard.

But Els stormed back with a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th to draw level with playing partner Goosen once more.

Overnight leader Goosen chipped in for birdie on the 17th to edge clear once more and also birdied the last from through the green after Els missed from four feet for eagle to force a play-off.

Goosen's final-round 70 gave him a 10-under-par total of 282, while Els' 68 was one of the lowest rounds of the week on a hugely-testing Links course.

Darren Fichardt and France's Gregory Bourdy shared third place on two under par, the only other players in red figures.

Goosen said: "Ernie played very well and I got away with it at the end there.

"It's great to win this trophy again, the last time was 10 years ago so it's great to get my hands on it again."

Collated final round scores and totals in the South African Airways Open, Fancourt Hotel & CC Estate (The Links GC), South Africa

(Rsa unless stated, par 73):

282 Retief Goosen 73 70 69 70

283 Ernie Els 76 70 69 68

290 Darren Fichardt 78 69 69 74, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 75 75 70 70

292 Keith Horne 73 72 72 75, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 70 75 72 75, Gregory Havret (Fra) 72 74 74 72

293 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 75 72 75

294 Tim Clark 68 78 72 76, Ross Fisher (Eng) 68 70 78 78

295 James Kingston 71 73 76 75

296 Charl Schwartzel 70 74 75 77, Trevor Immelman 77 74 73 72, Hendrik Buhrmann 80 73 69 74

297 Tjaart Van der Walt 76 71 75 75, Ian Hutchings 74 74 72 77, Bobby Lincoln 77 73 75 72

298 Andrew McLardy 72 78 74 74, Johan Edfors (Swe) 73 75 72 78, Louis Oosthuizen 76 72 69 81, Michael Lamb (Zim) 79 72 73 74

299 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 69 77 73 80, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 75 72 76 76, Miguel Carballo (Arg) 78 76 69 76

300 Ariel Canete (Arg) 79 75 71 75, Gary Clark (Eng) 77 76 72 75, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 76 72 76 76, Jean Hugo 73 74 75 78, Oliver Whiteley (Eng) 72 75 76 77, David Lynn (Eng) 72 74 77 77

301 Peter Karmis 76 75 77 73, David Dixon (Eng) 77 77 71 76, Justin Rose (Eng) 74 75 74 78, Desmond Terblanche 76 74 75 76, Mark Murless 75 75 74 77

302 Steve Van Vuuren 75 77 74 76, Phillip Archer (Eng) 74 73 80 75, Warren Abery 75 74 73 80, David Drysdale (Sco) 77 77 71 77, John Bele 72 73 83 74, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 75 75 73 79, Leonard Loxton 73 71 78 80, Jonathan Lomas (Eng) 76 73 76 77

303 Richard Sterne 75 73 78 77, Lee Slattery (Eng) 76 75 76 76, Ross Wellington 78 76 78 71

304 Michele Reale (Ita) 78 75 77 74, Omar Sandys 79 74 76 75, Scott Dunlap (USA) 74 77 72 81, Andrew Coltart (Sco) 75 76 78 75, Martin Maritz 78 76 73 77

305 Desvonde Botes 73 80 75 77, Alan Michell 75 75 79 76, Malcolm MacKenzie (Eng) 75 77 81 72, Dean Lambert 73 78 80 74, Michiel Bothma 82 71 77 75, Andrew Butterfield (Eng) 74 77 78 76

306 Kevin Stone 75 74 78 79, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 76 75 76 79, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 79 74 80 73, Patrick O'Brien 78 74 87 67, Dijon Tintinger 77 77 77 75, David Griffiths (Eng) 73 77 75 81, Francis Valera (Spa) 77 77 77 75

307 Titch Moore 74 76 79 78, Chris Davison 75 75 79 78

308 Brett Liddle 79 75 79 75, Doug McGuigan (Sco) 79 72 81 76, Anton Haig 72 79 79 78, Garry Houston (Wal) 82 72 76 78, Jaco Van Zyl 71 82 78 77

309 Trevor Fisher Jnr 77 75 82 75

310 Bradford Vaughan 77 76 78 79

311 Warrick Druian 72 78 80 81, James Kamte 77 75 80 79

312 Ashley Roestoff 80 73 83 76

313 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 77 77 81 78, Shaun Norris 75 79 84 75, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 80 72 83 78

322 Neil Cheetham (Eng) 76 78 80 88