South African James Kingston claimed his national open, a final round of 71 being enough to beat England's Oliver Wilson by one shot. Kingston has been a member of the European Tour for almost 20 years but this represented his first victory.
Wilson had held a one shot lead over the home favourite going into the final round but dropped three shots on the front nine and finished with a disappointing round of 73. Play was suspended for four hours due to heavy rain through the night. When the players returned to the course it was Kingston who took the lead from the early stages. The 42-year-old made four birdies, and despite a double bogey at the par-3 4th and a dropped shot on the 9th he managed to remain ahead of the field.
Darren Clarke, Kyron Sullivan, Garth Mulroy and Louis Oosthuizen all finished in a tie for third place on one-under. Greg Norman made a rare appearance and finished tied for seventh on level par.
For the first time in weeks a regulation par on the final green was enough for victory. The European Tour has recently seen a number of dramatic collapses in the late stages of tournaments, including Ernie Els? unbelievable triple bogey last week to lose by one shot. The South African finished with a round of 69 this week to tie for 16th place.
South African Open
-4 J Kingston (SA)
-3 O Wilson (Eng)
-1 D Clarke (NI),
G Mulroy (SA), L Oosthuizen (SA), K Sullivan (Wal)
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