GOLF:CHARL SCHWARTZEL successfully completed the defence of his Joburg Open title after a four-under-par 67 in yesterday's final round helped him finish four shots clear of Garth Mulroy.

The 26-year-old, whose scores this week have been 68, an immaculate 61 and 69, failed to produce his best golf in round four but still did enough to clinch a sixth European Tour title with a final total of 265, 19 under.

Fellow South Africans Mulroy and Thomas Aiken, who were playing alongside Schwartzel, struggled on the par-71 east course of the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, with the former finishing with a 71 and the latter concluding in 72.

England’s Jamie Elson, a former Walker Cup star, had been in contention all week but could only close with a level-par 71 in the co-sanctioned European and Sunshine Tour event to finish in fourth on 13 under.

Darren Clarke was best of the three Irish competitors, finishing tied 20th on six under par after a 69, which could have been better but for dropped shots at the 16th and 17th. That was worth €14,059.

Gareth Maybin never got going yesterday and had three bogeys in his 74 which saw him drop down to tied-27th on five under. He earned €11,570.

Colm Moriarty, after a fine opening 67, shot two 73s over the weekend to lie in 49th place, worth only €5,720.

Scott Jamieson from Scotland completed the round of the day with a 65 to finish on 11 under.

Swede Oscar Floren (72) along with South African quartet Tjaart van der Walt (67), George Coetzee (69), James Kingston (71) and Allan Versfeld (72) all ended in a tie for seventh on 10 under to make the top 10.

But Schwartzel was the toast of Johannesburg on a day that began with grey skies, followed by rain and then saw him playing his closing holes under bright sunshine.

The world number 32, who was the highest-ranked player in the field, recorded six birdies and two bogeys despite struggling with his long game, especially on the back nine where he hit just one fairway.

“Thomas and Garth probably outplayed me on the back nine by quite a bit, but I just managed to get the ball in the hole,” he said.

“For me I didn’t really play well on those last nine holes, but I just kept telling myself ‘you’ve got a good short game and you can do it’ and my putting along with the short game came to the rescue.

“It sounds easy, but I’ve been working really hard on my pitch shots, bunker play and chipping and it helped me when I needed it most today.”

Schwartzel, who became only the third South African after Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman to successfully defend a European Tour title, admitted it was the front nine holes that won him the tournament, although a bogey on the ninth did give his challengers hope.

The Vereeniging-based golfer added: “I got off to an absolutely perfect start today, I got my nose ahead.

“Coming down the ninth, I hit it slightly too hard and it went over the back. It was a bad bogey and things started getting a bit shaky for me.

“I had to really dig deep there on the back nine and managed to make a score.

“I’m really pleased that all my hard work has paid off.”