England's John Bickerton took a shock win in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa after a final hole horror show by home favourite Ernie Els.

Bickerton was the fortunate beneficiary of Els' capitulation on the final hole at the Leopard Creek Country Club.

The big South African totally lost the plot on the par-five 18th, shooting a triple-bogey eight and twice finding the water as he handed Bickerton a shock win.

Bickerton, who had trailed Els by four shots heading into the final round, began the day with an eagle on the par-five second hole, before adding four more birdies and two bogeys to finish with a 68 and 13 under for the tournament.

Having just finished his round two shots behind Els, who had the final hole to play, Bickerton watched as the South African twice missed the green, much to the astonishment of the home crowd.

Instead of laying up, Els went straight for the flag only to see his shot go right and find the water.

His second was much better but bounced before finding the water and he eventually left himself six feet from the hole.

Needing to make the putt to force a play-off, Els missed and handed 37-year-old Bickerton the title.

England's Lee Slattery, who was second overnight, shared second place with Els after finishing with a round of 71.

Bickerton, whose career highlights include the 2005 Abama Open de Canarias and 2006 Open de France, admitted he was surprised by the manner of his victory.

"No-one can describe the feeling that I've got. At the moment I mean really, I'm in shock," he said.

"I'm still in disbelief, but that's golf for you. Fantastic, but I feel sorry for Ernie obviously. I thought I might have had a chance of finishing second."

Bickerton was not sure what score Slattery had shot as he watched Els throw away the title on the last.

He added: "I wasn't sure what Lee had done. But like I said, this game throws up all sorts of wonderful things and these are the sort of things you enjoy.

"At the end of the day, I walked in and I thought well, second's a good week. I thought I really had got no chance of winning. It's just great."

Young Dutchman Joost Luiten, who shot a 64 on Saturday to storm into contention, had another thrilling round to end the week with a five-under-par 67 to finish on 11 under and in fourth place, while England's Ross McGowan finished fifth.

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke could only manage a final round 75, to end the tournament in 33rd place on one under par.

Collated final round scores & totals in the Europen Tour, Alfred Dunhill Championship, Leopard Creek GC, Mpumalanga, South Africa

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

275 John Bickerton 70 69 68 68

276 Lee Slattery 73 65 67 71, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 69 64 73

277 Joost Luiten (Ned) 75 71 64 67

279 Ross McGowan 71 69 67 72

280 David Dixon 72 72 67 69, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 74 66 73 67

281 Sion Bebb 67 72 74 68

282 Richard Bland 69 70 73 70, David Carter 72 71 70 69, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 75 69 68 70, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 72 70 73 67, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 77 67 70 68

283 Robert Rock 73 72 69 69, Keith Horne (Rsa) 74 70 68 71, Omar Sandys (Rsa) 68 68 74 73, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 74 72 68 69

284 Titch Moore (Rsa) 71 68 72 73, Craig Lee 68 71 72 73, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 74 71 73 66, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 73 73 70 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 72 75 68, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 74 70 70 70, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 72 73 71 68

285 Oliver Wilson 73 71 68 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 70 75 68 72, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 75 71 68 71

286 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 70 74 71 71, David Drysdale 73 72 74 67, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 74 71 69 72, Simon Dyson 75 68 74 69, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 75 71 71 69

287 Gary Boyd 72 71 72 72, Magnus Carlsson (Swe) 72 71 74 70, Ross Fisher 76 70 73 68, Chris Williams (Rsa) 74 69 75 69, Stuart Manley 71 72 75 69, Darren Clarke 73 69 70 75, Alan Michell (Rsa) 72 73 72 70

288 Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 72 73 69 74, Wallie Coetsee (Rsa) 72 71 71 74, Grant Veenstra (Rsa) 73 70 72 73, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 70 74 74, Philip Golding 72 72 73 71

289 Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 77 67 77 68, Sven Struver (Ger) 72 73 76 68, Benn Barham 72 71 73 73, Julio Zapata (Arg) 77 69 69 74

290 Anton Haig (Rsa) 71 71 74 74, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 75 69 73 73, Dion Fourie (Rsa) 72 71 75 72

291 Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 78 67 76 70, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 73 73 71 74, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 74 77 69, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 75 70 77 69, Stephen Browne 70 71 77 73

292 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 76 67 73 76, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 74 70 74 74, Luis Claverie (Spa) 74 70 71 77, Alan McLean 75 71 73 73, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 75 70 72 75

293 Peter Whiteford 71 72 77 73

295 Gary Clark 71 72 74 78

296 Doug McGuigan 74 67 75 80

301 Kevin Stone (Rsa) 73 71 81 76

302 Rossouw Loubser (Rsa) 74 71 80 77