Els and Co claim Dunhill double

Buffeted relentlessly by a chilling west wind, South Africa claimed a special distinction along with individual cheques of £100,000 here on the Old Course yesterday. With a 3-0 victory over Spain, they emulated Australia's achievement of 1985 and 1986 by becoming only the second team to successfully defend the Alfred Dunhill Cup.

In fact they went one better than the Australians, in that they used the same three players - Ernie Els, David Frost and Retief Goosen. But it was impossible not to feel a certain sympathy with the courageous Spaniards, who had ousted the hot favourites from the US in the morning semi-finals.

As it happens, they remain the only one of the six countries ever-present in this tournament since its launch in 1985 not to have taken the trophy. Yet it was a personal triumph for Jose-Maria Olazabal who walked 36 holes in trying conditions yesterday, little more than two years after it was feared he would never play golf again because of a damaged right foot.

For a time during a tense afternoon, it seemed that tie holes might become necessary to break the deadlock. When the top match had gone through the 16th and the other two were on the long 14th, all three were level.

But two holes later, the pendulum had swung dramatically in South Africa's favour. In the top match in which, incidentally, Goosen played the last 11 holes in three-under-par, he was level with Santiago Luna with two holes to play.

They were still level after a dramatic 17th in which Goosen putted dead from 40 feet while Luna pitched to 16 feet and then sank the putt for a most improbable par. On they went to the 18th tee where the South African unleashed a perfect drive to see his ball land on the green, 20 feet left of the hole.

Luna obviously thought he needed something special to match the South African. The outcome was that a prodigious effort ran through the green and finished in deep rough off the back. From there, he pitched too strongly into the Valley of Sin from where a brave par wasn't enough.

"I am happy with my day, but Retief was too good for me," commented the Spaniard, who was entitled to be pleased after beating no less a figure than Tiger Woods earlier in the day. But there was no doubting Goosen's contribution to the South African cause in that he won all his five matches.

"I kept trying to be patient, even though it was very difficult out there," he said. "It was tiring, but we went through it last year so I knew what to expect. But I'm sure we're going to feel it tonight."

While the top match was going South Africa's way, the Spanish challenge began to crumble. Miguel-Angel Jimenez, their skipper, three-putted the long 14th to drop a stroke behind Frost, and he proceeded to concede the initiative emphatically to his opponent by running up further bogeys at the next three.

Olazabal, as one might expect from a player of his quality, was less inclined to crack under what had become an irresistible surge by the champions. On a day of formidable physical demands, however, even he succumbed to the strain, notably in an unavailing tussle with the infamous Road Hole bunker, leading to a double-bogey.

So, a mid-afternoon struggle that had promised a thrilling finish actually became something of an anti-climax as South Africa claimed all three points. And in doing so, the number two seeds became the first country to claim a final clean sweep since the Australians' successes a decade ago.

"This is the man right there," said Els looking at Goosen. "He was our trump card all week and to play a level par round this afternoon in those conditions was quite phenomenal.

"When the weather is like this back home we don't play golf. We go indoors."

Frost added: "To have two guys like this as team-mates it does not matter how strong the wind blows. Nothing is stronger than they are."

Their winning scores - 72 for Goosen, 76 for Frost and 75 for Els - weren't the stuff of Old Course dreams. But with typical South African pragmatism, they got the job done.