Argentinian Ariel Canete was still on holiday last week, hoping to find some fitness before a heavy Challenger Tour season ahead when he got a call that would change his career.

Canete on Sunday found himself holding the inaugural Joburg Open after his final round 67 was enough to clinch a two-shot victory at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf course .

Canete explained that while on holiday, he received a call from his sponsor, who he would only identify as "a big friend", who told him he needed to travel across the Pacific Ocean to South Africa for the tournament.

Before that call, Canete admitted he was not likely to venture into the Republic.

His victory gives him a European Tour exemption until 2009, according to the tournament organisers, and raises him to a category three player as a winner of a tournament.

A clearly overjoyed Canete revealed he was hardly expecting to win and become the first Argentinian player to ever to take victory in South Africa.

He said: "It is difficult to explain, very difficult. I was a category 12 on the Euro Tour and didn't have too many starts.

"I was ready to play the Challenger Tour and now this, it means a lot.

"I was supposed to play the Challenger Tour and I wasn't practising and trying to exercise.

"Then my sponsor called me and he told me 'you have to go and play there because you aren't going to get too many starts and it is a good chance because the field isn't the best'.

"If I made top five then I would go to the next event. Well, he was right."

Canete played Challenger events in Argentina and Mexico where he "found something" that certainly helped his game.

His 19-under total of 266 on the par 285 course was enough to claim victory and Canete praised his skill with the putter.

He said: "In my last tournament in Mexico I found something in my game and to work on.

"I played the course okay, not super, but my putting was unbelievable today.

"This morning I made a 16 foot putt on 10 and a 12 foot putt on 11 for par and they were very important. After that I played a little bit better and only putted 23, 24 time this round."

Canete finished two shots ahead of South African Andrew McLardy, while another local Hennie Otto was a shot behind.

Alex Haindl and Mark Murless were on 13 under in fourth place while Englishman Edward Rush fired a final round 69 for a share of sixth place with Brazilian Adilson da Silva.

Canete's road to victory was more difficult as he had to return to the course at 6.45am this morning to complete the rain-interrupted third round.

With his ball on the fairway on the 10th, he had 27 holes to play to secure his victory.

He added: "It was difficult to sleep last night. I was playing very well yesterday on the front nine and when the play stopped because of the rain I didn't like it because I wanted to play on.

"But I was thinking if I was going to win, I was going to win anyway. I told myself to keep focused and try and be patient. It was difficult and when I started today it wasn't easy."

Canete rushed off afterwards to enter Abu Dhabi and the Dubai Desert Classic, both bonus tournaments he was never expecting to enter when the rain came down on Saturday afternoon.

Collated final round scores and totals in the European Tour Joburg Open, Royal Johannesburg and Kensington GC, Johannesburg, South Africa

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

266 Ariel Canete (Arg) 66 68 65 67

268 Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 63 72 65 68

269 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 65 67 70 67

272 Alex Haindl (Rsa) 68 68 66 70, Mark Murless (Rsa) 64 71 69 68

273 Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 71 65 69 68, Edward Rush 70 67 67 69

274 James Kingston (Rsa) 66 66 72 70, Doug McGuigan 68 67 71 68, Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 67 66 74 67, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 64 71 69 70

275 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 69 67 69 70, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 68 69 70 68, Sven Struver (Ger) 65 71 68 71, Alastair Forsyth 67 68 69 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 67 71 69 68

276 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 68 72 71 65, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 66 71 70

277 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 68 69 71, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 71 68 70 68, Tom Whitehouse 67 73 69 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 65 69 74 69, Euan Little 69 71 68 69

278 Matthew Zions (Aus) 67 68 71 72, David Park 65 71 69 73

279 Lee S James 69 71 67 72, Kalle Brink (Swe) 69 68 72 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 72 66 68 73

280 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 69 66 72 73, Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 70 66 74 70, Oliver Wilson 69 68 73 70, Benn Barham 68 70 69 73, Justin Walters (Rsa) 68 69 74 69

281 Richard Bland 68 72 72 69, Brett Liddle (Rsa) 69 68 70 74, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 69 69 71 72, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 69 69 72 71, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 67 68 71 75, Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 71 68 71 71, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 73 66 71 71, Ryan Tipping (Rsa) 70 69 69 73

282 Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 65 71 73 73, Raphael Eyraud (Fra) 70 67 72 73, Andrew Curlewis (Rsa) 70 70 71 71, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 67 72 73 70, Desmond Terblanche (Rsa) 73 67 70 72

283 Jakobus Roos (Rsa) 67 65 75 76, Stuart Cage 67 72 74 70, David Dixon 66 71 73 73, Robert Wiederkehr (Swi) 69 70 74 70, Bobby Lincoln (Rsa) 67 71 70 75, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 68 72 69 74, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 65 73 75 70, Stuart Little 74 65 72 72

284 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 66 69 75 74, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 66 72 71 75, Jamie Little 66 74 72 72, Gareth Davies 66 71 70 77, Paul Nilbrink (Swe) 71 68 73 72, Julio Zapata (Arg) 70 69 71 74, Peter Kaensche (Nor) 69 71 73 71, Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 74 66 73 71, Ross Wellington (Rsa) 69 71 71 73, Marcus Higley 71 69 72 72, Warren Abery (Rsa) 64 73 73 74, Andrew Marshall 69 69 69 77

285 Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 72 68 72 73, Michael Lamb (Zim) 68 71 71 75, David Higgins 69 69 72 75

287 Paul Dwyer 68 71 72 76, Gustavo Rojas (Arg) 70 70 73 74, Vaughn Groenewald (Rsa) 65 74 74 74

288 Dean Lambert (Rsa) 68 66 76 78, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 72 68 73 75, Grant Muller (Rsa) 68 72 75 73, Robert Dinwiddie 69 69 76 74, Sion Bebb 69 71 76 72, Chris Davison (Rsa) 68 71 74 75

289 Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 68 72 77 72

290 Magnus Persson (Swe) 68 67 79 76, Chris Gane 65 72 75 78, Simon Nash (Aus) 72 68 72 78

291 Omar Sandys (Rsa) 70 69 75 77