Ernie Els had never heard of Australian golfer Jarrod Moseley until this weekend. But he will never forget the name now.

In a quite remarkable finish to the Heineken Classic at The Vines in Perth - Australia's richest tournament - Els, the world number five, squandered a six-stroke lead and local hero Moseley grabbed the £108,890 first prize.

The 26-year-old has been a professional for only 18 months and in that time his best performances were second in both the Fijian and Samoan Opens. His total career earnings stood at a meagre £17,000.

He did not even know he was playing in the event until 10 days before the start and the shock of actually winning it was still evident as he spoke afterwards.

"This is just unbelievable," he said. "I came here today not really thinking I had a chance. I had basically given up and was just hoping to finish second."

Meanwhile, Els was in a state of bewilderment. "One bad hole really shook me up," said the South African. He was referring to the 413-yard seventh, which he had comfortably negotiated par-birdie-par in the first three rounds.

This time, however, his drive was pushed and his second, which he tried to fade under some branches, was instead hooked into a bush.

After taking a penalty drop Els, winner of the South African PGA title only two weeks ago, chipped onto the green - and then three-putted for a triple bogey seven. He never recovered.

With Moseley having grabbed birdies at the sixth, seventh and ninth Els's six-shot advantage was gone and when he three-putted again for a bogey six on the long ninth the little-known Australian was ahead.

By the 14th he was three clear and then it was a matter of whether he could hold his nerve.

A member of the Australian side which won the world amateur team title in 1996, he knew he could probably afford one mistake - and when it came on the 17th, where he pushed his second into sand and only just got out, he was relieved to discover he still had a one-stroke lead.

The 517-yard 18th played downwind all week and was the easiest hole on the course. A birdie would have put the issue beyond doubt, but Moseley found another bunker off the tee and had to lay up short of the lake.

From there, though, he struck an eight-iron to 10 feet, two-putted and then waited to see if Els could eagle the last.

The double US Open champion hit his second to 25 feet, but the putt to force a play-off was never on line.

In the end Els had to settle for a share of second place with Germany's Bernhard Langer and Australian Peter Lonard.

Moseley shot 69 against the 75 of Els and finished with a 14-under-par total of 274.

Padraig Harrington, the one Irish player to survive the halfway cut, finished in joint 51st place on one under after a closing 69, his best round of the week.

Harrington said afterwards: "I have been improving all through the week and today's score does give my game some confidence, especially as this is my first event since November. "Certainly my 74 on Saturday was disappointing which was a pretty poor round of golf, but there were a couple of things wrong with my swing and they will come around.