Richard Sterne came through a three-man play-off with Garth Mulroy and Magnus Carlsson to win the Joburg Open at the second extra hole.

The South African, who trailed overnight leader Mark Murless by four shots at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, carded an impressive six-under-par 65 to finish level with Mulroy and Carlsson on 13 under.

All three players birdied the first play-off hole but world number 44 Sterne then repeated the feat on the par-four 17th while compatriot Mulroy and Swede Carlsson could only manage pars.

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke also finished strongly with a three-under-par 68 - 11-under for the championship - securing a fourth-place finish.

Sterne's victory was his third European Tour title following wins at the Madrid Open in 2004 and last year's Wales Open at Celtic Manor.

"It was actually quite enjoyable to be honest," said Sterne. "After the start I was quite far back and I knew I needed to get to 13 or 14 under."

"I got close when I hit a couple great shots into the last. I thought 13 under was a good number and then I got close - I got 13 under in the end."

Sterne was the highest-ranked player in the 204-strong £825,000 event but he admitted he needed to play well to recover and win the top prize.

"It was a tough day," he said. "Any time you're favourite to win or anything like that, I think it's a little bit more pressure.

"I didn't get off to a good start at all. I think I was three over at some stage, but I came back strong and that's what it's about."

Fellow South African Murless led through the opening three rounds but faded badly as his two-over-par final round of 73 saw him slip back to finish fifth with an overall aggregate of 275.

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

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

271 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 66 69 66, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 67 72 66 66, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 68 67 65

(Richard Sterne won at the second hole of a sudden-death play-off with a par-4)

273 Darren Clarke 73 65 67 68

275 Louis Moolman (Rsa) 68 69 69 69, Chris Williams (Rsa) 73 65 67 70, Mark Murless (Rsa) 65 68 69 73

276 Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 65 70 69 72

277 Sven Struver (Ger) 67 71 66 73, Paul Waring 69 67 69 72, Ariel Canete (Arg) 70 70 70 67, Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa) 74 65 68 70, Ian Garbutt 71 69 68 69

278 Iain Pyman 68 68 73 69, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 69 70 69, Warren Abery (Rsa) 70 65 71 72, Jake Roos (Rsa) 71 71 67 69, Justin Walters (Rsa) 73 67 69 69, Ross McGowan 66 75 64 73, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 68 73 67 70

279 Chris Gane 73 69 70 67, Lee S James 72 68 68 71, James Kamte (Rsa) 68 71 70 70, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 66 68 70 75

280 Gary Lockerbie 67 71 70 72, Craig Lee 74 68 68 70, Stephen Gallacher 70 70 70 70, Liam Bond 70 71 70 69, Kyron Sullivan 74 67 67 72, Dave Horsey 72 69 69 70, Trevor Fisher Jnr (Rsa) 68 73 71 68

281 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 71 68 71 71, John Mellor 69 71 69 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 68 71 70 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 74 69 70, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 70 72 71 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 72 70 68 71, Robert Rock 74 65 68 74, Gary Boyd 68 69 70 74, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 70 71 68 72

282 Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 67 74 69 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 68 73 72 69, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 70 68 72, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 69 68 72 73, Charl Coetzee (Rsa) 68 67 72 75

283 Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 70 68 69 76, Joakim Backstrom (Swe) 68 68 72 75, Richard Bland 68 74 68 73, Alex Haindl (Rsa) 68 68 76 71, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 71 71 72 69, Ben Mason 70 72 69 72, Craig Lile (Rsa) 70 72 71 70, Andrew McArthur 73 69 68 73, Marcus Higley 68 72 69 74

284 Florian Praegant (Aut) 74 65 74 71, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 70 72 74 68, Edward Rush 70 69 73 72, Marco Soffietti (Ita) 70 72 71 71

285 Sion Bebb 66 73 73 73, Juan Abbate (Arg) 76 66 73 70, Marco Ruiz (Par) 67 71 76 71, Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 71 70 69 75

286 David Drysdale 67 73 73 73, Branden Grace (Rsa) 76 65 71 74, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 70 71 73 72, Deane Pappas (Rsa) 72 69 73 72

287 Prinavin Nelson (Rsa) 68 72 77 70, Brett Liddle (Rsa) 74 66 74 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 72 72 73

288 Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 73 69 70 76, Werner Geyer (Rsa) 70 72 72 74, Ryan Reid (Rsa) 67 75 71 75

289 Jamie Donaldson 70 71 72 76, Doug McGuigan 71 71 72 75

290 Warren Bennett 69 72 73 76

291 Henk Alberts (Rsa) 71 71 74 75, Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 75 67 75 74, Teboho Sefatsa (Rsa) 68 74 77 72

292 Bobby Lincoln (Rsa) 71 71 78 72

293 Gary Emerson 69 72 74 78