Malelane - Hennie Otto clinched the Tour Championship at Leopard Creek on Sunday despite Trevor Immelman throwing a 29 at him on the front nine on the way to a course record 63.
Otto closed with a bogey-free 68 for an aggregate of 17-under-par 271 in the R2-million event. Not dropping a shot with all the pressure on him and all the trouble lurking off the fairways was a tribute to his fighting spirit.
Immelman finished second on 273 after a glorious 10-birdie 63, with Craig Lile third on 279 following a 70. Mark McNulty and Briton Mark Mouland were joint fourth on 282.
Starting the day a commanding six strokes ahead of Lile and seven ahead of Immelman, Otto immediately increased his advantage with a birdie at the first.
"Then Trevor threw five straight birdies at me. He played some great shots," Otto said. "But it didn't worry me, because I was also playing well and not making mistakes.
"I'm stubborn and won't give up when I'm leading. I felt confident over the par-saving putts and occasionally knocked in a big one for birdie (like an 11m effort at the par-five 13th).
Immelman's only mistake of the day was a three-putt for bogey at 17. That put Otto three shots clear and he knew he could afford to play the treacherous par-five 18th conservatively. "I told my caddie (Darren Normans) on the 18th tee 'Enjoy the walk' and that's what's we did," the winner said.
He made a par to be home and dry. His second big success of the summer - after his win in the Nashua Masters at the Wild Coast in November - earned him R317 000 and pushed up his season's earnings to R877 118. Otto thus charged past fellow-South African Bradford Vaughan (R854 746) into third place on the final order of merit.
Immelman topped the list on R2 044 279, with Briton Mark Foster second on R1 110 935, followed by Otto. Tim Clark (R901 036) earned more than Otto, but did not qualify for the order of merit due to having played only three events.
One of Otto's goals is to play in the United States this year, but he does not have a card for either the PGA Tour or the subsidiary Nationwide Tour.
However, the 26-year-old Otto will be in action there this year. Sunday's win got him into the field for the NEC Invitation tournament in August, while his third place on the moneylist meant he would also be invited to the American Express Championship in September. Both events offer $5-million in prize money.
In addition, the top 12 from the Sunshine Tour's order of merit are exempt from qualifying for another big-money event overseas, the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland in late September.
Sunday's drama-packed final round was a fitting finale to the 2002-03 Sunshine Tour, with the Sid Brews Trophy awarded to Immelman as leading money-winner. He was also the recipient of the Gary Player Trophy for topping the stoke averages on 68.19.
Charl Schwartzel, 18, was awarded the Bobby Locke Trophy as rookie of the year. He finished joint-11th on 286 on Sunday, which upped his earnings for the five tournaments he played this season to R352 402 for 15th place in the final order of merit.