East London - British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen holed a birdie putt on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off on Sunday to add the Africa Open to his trophy collection.
While Oosthuizen sank a nine-footer for a three after a tee shot that took a lucky bounce after appearing destined for rough at the par-four 18th, Spaniard Manuel Quiros and Englishman Chris Wood had to settle for pars.
Oosthuizen (70), Quiros (69) and Wood (68) completed their four rounds on 16-under 276 at East London Golf Club, where the absence of wind from the final 18 holes made scoring conditions favourable.
Success was particularly sweet for world number 21 Oosthuizen, who has endured some bad luck since rocking the golf world last July with a seven-stroke British Open triumph at St Andrews.
After injuring his ankle while hunting, he finished last at the invitational Sun City Challenge last month, and missed the Alfred Dunhill Championship cut a week later.
But a third-place finish at the pre-Christmas South African Open in Durban, despite battling to drop birdie putts, signalled that a recovery was imminent and he was a deserved and popular winner in the Eastern Cape city.
ScoreboardLouis Oosthuizen wins playoff at the first extra hole 276 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 70 67 69 70 276 Chris Wood (Britain) 72 69 67 68
Manuel Quiros (Spain) 71 68 68 69 277, Steven O'Hara (Britain) 72 71 68 66
Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 69 70 68 70
Jaco Van Zyl, (South Africa) 67 70 70 70 278 Robert Dinwiddie, (Britain) 69 74 66 69 279 Shaun Norris, (South Africa) 70 73 70 66
Eirik Tage Johansen (Norway) 71 71 70 67
Miles Tunnicliff (Britain) 67 69 72 71
Branden Grace (South Africa) 67 69 72 71
Jbe Kruger (South Africa) 68 72 67 72
Markus Brier (Austria) 70 66 70 73 280, Matthew Nixon (Britain) 71 74 68 67
Oliver Bekker (South Africa) 69 71 69 71
Carlos Del Moral (Spain) 70 70 69 71
Thomas Aiken (South Africa) 69 72 68 71 281, Andrew Marshall (Britain) 71 72 69 69
Neil Schietekat (South Africa) 74 70 68 69
Ross McGowan (Britain) 68 69 71 73 282, Wade Ormsby (Australia) 69 73 69 71
Keith Horne (South Africa) 71 70 69 72 283, Doug McGuigan (South Africa) 68 75 70 70
Divan Van den Heever (South Africa) 71 71 70 71
Elliot Saltman (Britain) 67 71 73 72 284, Scott Hend (Australia) 76 70 72 66
James Kingston (South Africa) 72 72 73 67
Darren Clarke (Britain) 69 75 72 68
Adilson Da Silva (Brazil) 74 69 71 70
Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (France) 67 74 72 71
Mikko Korhonen (Finland) 71 72 70 71
Tjaart Van der Walt (South Africa) 70 74 69 71
Tyrone Van Aswegen (South Africa) 70 71 71 72
Trevor Fisher (South Africa) 69 72 71 72
Fredrik Ohlsson (Sweden) 67 72 72 73