Christiaan Bezuidenhout goes back-to-back to secure South African Open title

Christiaan Bezuidenhout overcame a slow start to secure back-to-back European Tour titles on home soil with a commanding victory in the South African Open at Sun City.

Bezuidenhout, who won the Alfred Dunhill Championship seven days ago, carded a closing 69 at Gary Player Country Club to finish 18 under par, five shots clear of Welshman Jamie Donaldson.

The 26-year-old took a five-shot lead into the final round, but followed seven straight pars with a bogey on the eighth after finding the water with his approach.

With Donaldson covering the same stretch in two under the gap was briefly down to two shots, only for the former Ryder Cup star to bogey the ninth in the group ahead.

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Bezuidenhout got up and down from a greenside bunker to save par on the same hole and then made the ideal start to the back nine with a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th.

Donaldson, whose last victory came on the Asian Tour five years ago, refused to throw in the towel and birdied the 11th, 14th and 16th, but bogeyed the 17th moments after Bezuidenhout had birdied the 16th.

“It’s unbelievable to stand here with the SA Open win,” Bezuidenhout told Sky Sports.

“It’s any South African golfer’s dream to win it, their national tournament. It’s unreal.

“I’ve worked hard today. The front nine didn’t really go my way but I dug deep to come out with the win.”

Final leaderboard

British and Irish unless stated, par 72, (a) denotes amateur

270 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 67 67 67 69

275 Jamie Donaldson 71 63 72 69

277 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 68 68 70 71

278 Dean Burmester (Rsa) 67 69 71 71

279 JC Ritchie (Rsa) 70 71 66 72

280 Hennie Du Plessis (Rsa) 70 70 68 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 74 68 68 70, Scott Vincent (Zim) 72 69 67 72

281 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 73 69 69 70

282 Connor Syme 72 70 69 71

283 Joost Luiten (Ned) 72 67 70 74, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 69 74 68 72, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 74 73 67 69

284 Calum Hill 77 66 72 69, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 75 71 69 69, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 72 72 73, Ruan Conradie (Rsa) 74 68 72 70

285 Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 73 70 70, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 71 68 72 74

286 Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 70 73 73 70, Anthony Michael (Rsa) 73 69 75 69, Justin Walters (Rsa) 69 72 71 74, Steve Surry 72 72 73 69, Jean-Paul Strydom (Rsa) 76 67 72 71

287 David Law 71 71 73 72, (a) Casey Jarvis (Rsa) 73 74 71 69, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 72 74 73 68, Benjamin Follet-Smith (Zim) 72 71 71 73, Ruan Korb (Rsa) 67 72 70 78, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 67 72 71 77, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 75 69 71 72

288 Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 70 75 68 75, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 73 68 72 75, Scott Jamieson 70 74 69 75

289 Luke Brown (Rsa) 71 75 72 71, Deon Germishuys (Rsa) 74 71 74 70, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 72 69 73 75, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 70 72 74 73, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 72 72 75 70

290 Richard Bland 72 74 73 71, Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez (Esp) 72 72 73 73, Rourke Van Der Spuy (Rsa) 73 72 75 70, (x) Austin Bautista (Aus) 71 72 74 73, MJ Daffue (Rsa) 72 72 76 70, George Coetzee (Rsa) 73 74 71 72

291 Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 74 69 73 75, MJ Viljoen (Rsa) 70 75 70 76, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 75 69 76 71, Aron Zemmer (Ita) 67 75 72 77, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 75 70 72 74

292 Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 69 75 77 71, Darius Van Driel (Ned) 76 71 72 73, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 76 68 74 74, Jayden Trey Schaper (Rsa) 73 73 73 73

293 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 74 73 73 73, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 73 77 72, Martin Rohwer (Rsa) 70 75 76 72

294 Stanislav Matus (Cze) 76 71 72 75, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 68 78 74 74, Stephen Ferreira (Por) 70 76 74 74

295 Michael G Palmer (Rsa) 73 73 74 75, Benjamin Poke (Den) 75 69 75 76

296 Matias Calderon (Chi) 74 73 74 75

297 Robin Roussel (Fra) 72 75 73 77, Daan Huizing (Ned) 72 74 75 76

298 Ockie Strydom (Rsa) 74 70 77 77

301 Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 72 74 73 82, Jesper Sandborg (Swe) 73 73 77 78

302 Jean Hugo (Rsa) 74 73 76 79