European Tour:Richard Sterne came through a three-man play-off with Garth Mulroy and Magnus Carlsson to win the co-sanctioned Europen/Sunshine Tour Johannesburg Open at the second extra hole yesterday.

The South African, who trailed overnight leader Mark Murless by four shots at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, carded an impressive six-under-par 65 to finish level with Mulroy and Carlsson on 13 under par.

Darren Clarke, showed a welcome return to form to claim a share of fourth place with South Africans Louis Moolman, Chris Williams and Murless

Carlsson, Mulroy and Sterne all birdied the first play-off hole but world number 44 Sterne then repeated the feat on the par-four 17th to collect the first prize of €174,350 while compatriot Mulroy and Sweden's Carlsson could only manage pars.

Clarke finished strongly with a three-under-par 68 that included five birdies in halves of 34 each way for and 11-under-par total of 273 and a cheque for €54,010.

Sterne's victory was his third European Tour title following wins at the Madrid Open in 2004 and last year's Wales Open at Celtic Manor.

"It was actually quite enjoyable to be honest," said Sterne. "After the start I was quite far back and I knew I needed to get to 13 or 14 under. I got close when I hit a couple great shots into the last. I thought 13 under was a good number and then I got close - I got 13 under in the end."

Sterne was the highest-ranked player in the 204-strong event but he admitted he needed to play well to recover and win the top prize.

"It was a tough day," he said. "Any time you're favourite to win or anything like that, I think it's a little bit more pressure.

"I didn't get off to a good start at all. I think I was three over at some stage, but I came back strong and that's what it's about."

Fellow South African Murless led through the opening three rounds but faded badly as his two-over-par final round of 73 saw him slip back to finish fifth with an overall aggregate of 275.

Sterne survived hitting into a fairway bunker on the first sudden-death hole by cajoling a brilliant four-iron on to the green on the par-five 18th which all three players birdied.

Mulroy and Carlsson found a fairway bunker when they returned to the 18th tee and were unable to match Sterne's birdie.

The 26-year-old Sterne had raced through the last nine holes in just 31 strokes, which included birdies at the 11th, 14th and finishing with birdies on the last two holes to catch up with the leaders.

Mulroy was alone in the lead with two holes to play after a birdie on the par-three 16th hole, but could only collect pars on the last two holes.

Carlsson, like Sterne, birdied the 17th and 18th holes to get in the play-off.

Johannesburg Open

Final leaderboard

Leading scores

(Irish in bold, British unless stated, par 71):

271 - Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 66 69 66, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 67 72 66 66, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 71 68 67 65 (Richard Sterne won at the second hole of a sudden-death play-off with a par-4)

273 - Darren Clarke 73 65 67 68 275 Louis Moolman (Rsa) 68 69 69 69, Chris Williams (Rsa) 73 65 67 70, Mark Murless (Rsa) 65 68 69 73

276 - Tyrone Ferreira (Rsa) 65 70 69 72

277 - Sven Struver (Ger) 67 71 66 73, Paul Waring 69 67 69 72, Ariel Canete (Arg) 70 70 70 67, Dawie Van der Walt (Rsa) 74 65 68 70.