Chinese takeaway foils Els quest for fourth straight tournament victory

LIAN-Wei Zhang became the first Chinese winner on the European Tour

World number two Els led by one shot playing the final hole but ran up a bogey five and then saw playing partner Zhang hole from five feet for birdie to snatch the title and £92,000 first prize.

Zhang carded a closing 70 for a 10-under total of 278, with Els a shot behind and Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng another stroke back in third. England's Simon Khan and Holland's Maarten Lafeber shared fourth on seven under.

"I felt I played okay but I didn't putt well at all," said Els, who carded a final round 73, his worst of the week by three shots. "Apart from yesterday I struggled with the pace of the greens.

"And the heat eventually got to me a little bit. I have to take my hat off to Zhang, he stuck in well and didn't make any mistakes really. But the way I putted I let them all in a bit.

"It is always tough to lose like this but it has happened before and it

will probably happen again," he said.

It is not the first time Zhang, ranked 141st in the world at the start of the week, has taken some famous scalps.

The 37-year-old memorably defeated Colin Montgomerie in a Dunhill Cup match at St Andrews in 1998, and beat former Open champion Nick Price on the fifth hole of a play-off to retain his Macau Open title in October last year.

"I am delighted," said Zhang, who will miss next week's Heineken Classic in Melbourne to celebrate the Chinese New Year with his family. "I have played so many times on the European Tour but never won before.

"When I saw Ernie pull out an iron on the 18th and miss the fairway I knew I had to push very hard. I thought my chance had come. I was very nervous when Ernie was putting in case he made par but not so nervous with my putt.

"This is a milestone in my career. Ernie Els is a great player and it was a pleasure playing with him."

Els had won his last three events the Nedbank Challenge last year and the first two US Tour events in Hawaii in 2003.

He was as short as 7/4 to make it four in a row at Laguna National.

Trevor Immelman fired a 71, his worst score of the weekend, but held on for his second title of 2003 at the Gary Player Country Club as Darren Clarke faded out of contention.

The South African claimed a one-stroke victory over countryman Andrew McLardy and American Bruce Vaughan.

Immelman, tied for the lead with Clarke on 11 under par through four holes on Saturday when darkness brought an end to play. He returned at 6am yesterday today to finish his third round and he did so in style with a seven under par 65.

Immelman said: "I could handle playing 32 holes today, but being in contention for the last three weeks took a lot out of me." The 23-year-old won the South African Airways Open at the beginning of the year and finished joint second in the Dunhill Championship.

Clarke's challenge went astray at the 17th in his third round when he made a double bogey and ended up with a 69. He then dropped two shots at the third in his final round and then had bogeys on three of his last five holes to shoot 76 his worst round of the weekend.