Scotland’s Richie Ramsay won the South African Open at Pearl Valley today when he shot a best-of-the-day 65 and then beat Indian Shiv Kapur in a play-off to claim his first European Tour title.

The pair tied on 13 under par, Kapur also coming from behind with a 67, but the last title of the 2009 golfing year was settled when 26-year-old Ramsay two-putted the first extra hole for a birdie four.

“There’s no greater feeling than winning and I’m just a flood of emotions — I’m holding back the tears,” said Ramsay, a former winner of the US Amateur title.

“Things just went for me,” he added. “But I am a lot more positive now — I go out believing and thinking I can win.”

Ramsay did not drop a shot all day, going to the turn in 33 and then grabbing more birdies on the 10th, 12th, 15th and 17th.

The last of those, a 14-footer following a superb approach from the rough over water, brought Ramsay into the joint lead and, after he had missed a 25-foot birdie chance on the last, Kapur stood on the same green with a 12-foot putt for his first Tour title but missed.

Denmark’s Anders Hansen, Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed and Italian Edoardo Molinari all could have joined the play-off with a closing eagle but failed.

Hansen’s birdie left him third, while the other two parred to be joint fourth — and that was good enough for Molinari to climb into the world’s top 50 just in time to join his brother Francesco in the Masters at Augusta in April.

Overnight leader Pablo Martin, winner of last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, dropped to sixth with a 73.

Ramsay went into the event ranked 240th in the world and the victory will take him just inside the top 120.

It was not until he came fourth at the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews in October that Ramsay made sure of keeping his card.

Damien McGrane was best of the Irish, closing with a 71 to finish on five under. Michael Hoey slipped down the leaderboard after posting a 76 for two under, the same mark as Gareth Maybin, who shot 71 today.

Gary Murphy closed with a level-par 72 to finish on one under for the tournament.

FINAL LEADERBOARD
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
275Richie Ramsay 67 75 68 65, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 68 69 67 (Ramsay won at the first play-off hole).
276Anders Hansen (Den) 66 69 72 69
277Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 68 69 69 71, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 68 68 70
278Pablo Martin (Spa) 65 68 72 73, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 73 71 68 66
279Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 68 73 68 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 66 69 72, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 72 70 67, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 72 69 68 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 68 75 69 67
280Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 69 67 74 70, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 76 69 68 67
281Richard Bland 73 72 66 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 69 73 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 69 74 70 68
282Jacques Blaauw (Rsa) 69 75 69 69, Scott Dunlap (USA) 72 70 70 70, Richard
Sterne (Rsa) 71 69 74 68
283 Damien McGrane69 72 71 71, David Drysdale 75 70 68 70, Adilson Da Silva
(Bra) 69 69 74 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 70 74 67, Simon Khan 73 71 68 71
284Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 69 71 71 73, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 77 68 70 69, Jean
Hugo (Rsa) 72 69 70 73, Andrew Coltart 74 67 73 70, Marc Cayeux (Zim) 73 72 68 71
285Robert Rock 71 74 71 69, Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa) 65 73 74 73, George
Coetzee (Rsa) 74 67 74 70, David Hewan (Rsa) 77 68 69 71
286Callum Macaulay 70 69 73 74, Grant Muller (Rsa) 72 72 70 72, Gareth Maybin
75 68 72 71, Richard McEvoy 71 69 73 73, Keith Horne (Rsa) 71 72 73 70, Carlos Rodiles (Spa 70 71 73 72, John Bickerton 73 70 72 71, Michael Hoey70 70 70 76
287 Gary Murphy75 69 71 72, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 72 71 69 75, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 72 71 71 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 79 65 74 69
288Brandon Pieters (Rsa) 74 69 70 75, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 64 74 78 72, Jaco Van Zyl
(Rsa) 76 67 72 73, Sam Hutsby 71 73 69 75, Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 70  74 73, Louis Moolman (Rsa) 70 74 71 73, Richard Finch 68 71 76 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 74 72 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 69 74 72 73
289Oliver Bekker (Rsa) 72 72 73 72, Joost Luiten (Ned) 73 69 73 74, Rhys Davies 73 70 72 74
290Fredrik Ohlsson (Swe) 71 73 71 75, Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 74 70 73 73
291Dion Fourie (Rsa) 71 72 72 76, Steve Basson (Rsa) 73 70 73 75, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 69 73 74 75, Paul Waring 73 72 72 74, Peter Karmis (Rsa) 70 73 70 78, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 74 70 73 74
292Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 72 72 72 76
294JG Claassen (Rsa) 74 69 75 76, Peter Whiteford 73 72 75 74, Alan McLean 69 73 79 73, Kenneth Ferrie 71 70 75 78
296James Morrison 72 73 74 77
298Lindani Ndwandwe (Rsa) 72 73 75 78
299TC Charamba (Zim) 73 72 73 81, Doug McGuigan 70 75 72 82
300James Kamte (Rsa) 70 74 77 79
301Thabang Simon (Rsa) 75 70 74 82
302Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 71 71 79 81
304Marco Ruiz (Par) 74 70 79 81
308Ryan Dreyer (Rsa) 73 72 76 87