First Euro Tour win for Jamieson

Scotland's Scott Jamieson won the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship, the opening event of the new European Tour season, in South Africa yesterday.

In a tournament cut to 36 holes, and on a Royal Durban course reduced to a par-65 because of saturated fairways, Jamieson shot a second-round 57 and then saw off England's Steve Webster and Spaniard Eduardo de la Riva in a play-off.

De la Riva bogeyed the first extra hole and then, in fast-fading light, Webster, the only one of the trio to have won on the circuit before, did the same when they returned to the 18th tee.

Jamieson, whose previous best finish was third, will not go into the Tour record books for his 57, however. Because of the course conditions it will not officially count, but that will not matter to the 29-year-old ranked 167th in the world.

He was not even in the top 60 after his opening round of 66 and admitted afterwards: "Starting the day I probably didn't think I would be standing here holding the trophy."

All three players involved in the play-off finished their rounds by lunchtime and had to wait all afternoon to see if anybody could beat their seven-under totals of 123. South Africa's Tim Clark had the best chance, but double-bogeyed the 17th when joint leader.