Chinhoi, who began the day two shots off the lead, put himself in contention by collecting two birdies in a bogey-free front nine, and then claimed the lead with three more birdies on the back nine, before a pulled drive saw him bogey the 17th and then only make par on the par-five final hole, leaving him with a 68 for 17-under-par for the tournament.

That was enough to get him into a playoff though, with Schietekat, the winner of the previous event on the Sunshine Tour, the FBC Zimbabwe Open a fortnight ago. Schietekat was six-under for his final round through 13 holes, roaring up the leaderboard, but he then made a crucial bogey on the par-four 14th hole and then could only par his way in to the clubhouse.

The pair played the 515-metre 18th hole again in the playoff and the 32-year-old Chinhoi produced an excellent tee-shot that left him 207 metres from the green. From there he hit a seven-iron short of the green, made sure he left his chip below the hole on the hard green, and calmly slotted a five-foot putt for birdie to claim the title, as the experienced Schietekat could only make par.

“I am just so grateful, I thank God, for this victory because it puts my name on the map,” a delighted Chinhoi said. “This win will be life and game-changing for me. I was getting tired of being in my comfort zone, I wanted to go away and play at another level. I managed to lift my game and this week has changed everything.”

While Chinhoi was superb off the tee on Sunday, he putted with computer-like accuracy under the pressure of the final round and a large crowd of contenders.

Young Ryan van Velzen birdied the 18th hole to finish with the clubhouse lead on 16-under and then faced an anxious wait, but Chinhoi and Schietekat did not drop any further strokes, leaving the 21-year-old alone in third place.

Stefan Wears-Taylor was also in contention but then bogeyed the last to post a 69 that left him on 15-under, a score matched by Sean Bradley, who had reached 16-under by the 10th hole, but then had seven straight pars and a bogey to finish.

Rupert Kaminski (65) and Trevor Fisher Jnr (66) were the other golfers to share fourth place on 15-under-par.

SCORES:

(* won in playoff)

-17 - *Robson Chinhoi

-17 - Neil Schietekat

-16 - Ryan Van Velzen

-15 - Rupert Kaminski, Trevor Fisher Jnr, Stefan Wears-Taylor, Sean Bradley

-13 - Robin Williams, Martin Rohwer

-12 - Nikhil Rama, Malcolm Mitchell, David Wicks

-11 - Keegan Mclachlan, Hennie O'Kennedy

-10 - Christiaan Basson, Yurav Premlall, Peter Karmis, Jake Redman, Siyanda Mwandla

-9 - Tristin Galant, Nyasha Muyambo, Kyle Barker, Gerhard Pepler, Gerhard Trytsman

-8 - Lyle Rowe, Doug McGuigan, Christiaan Burke, Chris Cannon, Jaco Ahlers, Jacques Blaauw, Hennie Otto

-7 - James Mack, Herman Loubser

-6 - Sydney Joseph Wemba, Ruan Conradie

-5 - Luke Trocado, Danie Van Niekerk, DK Kim

-4 - Ricky Hendler, Rhys West, Kyle McClatchie

-3 - Conner Mackenzie, Heinrich Bruiners

-2 - Nicholaus Frade

-1 - Hayden Griffiths, Keelan van Wyk, Ben Firth, Jovan Rebula, Stuart Krog

Par - Drikus Joubert, Tyron Davidowitz

+1 - Wynand Dingle, Luke Jerling

+2 - Albert Venter, Steve Surry, Callum Mowat, Paul Boshoff

+3 - Vaughn van Deventer

+4 - Gregory Mckay

+5 - Aneurin Gounden, Keagan Thomas

+6 - Willie Olivier

Missed the cut:-

Par - James Pennington, Luke Brown, Anthony Michael, Ronald Rugumayo, Jack Hawksby, Adam Breen, Jacquin Hess, Jason Roets, Warwick Purchase, Visitor Mapwanya

+1 - Ruan de Smidt, Jean-Paul Strydom, Jacques P de Villiers, Madalitso Muthiya, MJ Viljoen, Philip Geerts

+2 - Louis Albertse, Travis Ladner, Fredrik From, Ethan Smith

+3 - Morton Muwowo, Michael Kok, Aaron Simfukwe Jnr, Clancy Waugh, Brian Gondo, James Kamte

+4 - Jared Harvey, Dayne Moore, Toto Thimba Jnr, Paul Adam Chidale, Merrick Bremner, Timothy M Sondashi

+6 - LB Boshoff, Marcel Steyn Scholtz, Keelan Africa, Thabang Simon, Jonathan Broomhead, Dezzie Ngandu, Gabriel Chibale, Biggie Chibvuri, Promise Sombrero

+7 - Jonathan Waschefort, Teboho Sefatsa, Reinhardt Blaauw, Ryan Tipping, Neil Bothma, Ryan Cairns

+8 - Omar Sandys, Leon Visser, Francois van Staden

+9 - Alphius Kelapile

+10 - Morton Kombai, Raphael Phiri, Shankar Natarajan

+11 - Gaita Rodell, Ntengwa Mukosa, Kelly Tembo

+12 - Patrick Mwendapole Snr, Del Piero Daniels, Mwivwanji Simukoko

+13 - Mandla Dlamini Jnr, Musambo Kapoma JNR, Leonard Chibwe, Denmark Mulambo

+17 - Sebastain Stobart

+18 - Bruce Chanda, Joshua Mwendapole

+19 - Keagan Bwalya

+23 - Ricco Motsa

WDN - Ignatius Mketekete

RTD - Johan Theron