Jayden Schaper won the 2026 Alfred Dunhill Championship after a play-off against Shaun Norris at Royal Johannesburg club.
The pair were tied at 16 under par after the tournament was reduced to 54 holes but it was Schaper who claimed a first DP World Tour win with an eagle at the first play-off hole after a stunning approach from a fairway bunker which he described as "probably one of the shots of my career".
He said: “It’s just so special, it’s been so close the last few weeks and probably the last couple of years. It’s a dream come true and it’s prayers answered.”
It denied Norris a successful title defence after he had shot 62 on Sunday to come close to a repeat of last year's success at Leopard Creek.
Norris made a birdie-birdie start and then eagled the eighth for an outward nine of 31, four under the revised par of 35 after the waterlogged par-five sixth was modified into a par three on Saturday.
He dropped a shot at the tenth but bounced back immediately, and four straight birdies from the 13th took him ahead on his own.
"I wasn't thinking much back then," he said. "I was just trying to hit my spots and give myself the best opportunities, and luckily I made them all."
He had to settle for pars at the final two holes but, speaking before his rivals had finished, he said: "I'm just grateful to have played such a good round today, I hit the ball nicely and made a lot of good putts. To put myself in this position again, I'm blessed and grateful."
Overnight leader Eugenio Chacarra started with a birdie but dropped two shots at the par-three fifth after hitting his tee-shot onto the rocky edge of a water hazard.
He started birdie-bogey on the back nine and with Norris setting the target at 16 under, the Spaniard needed a strong finish as the rain started again.
His birdie putt at the 15th slid by and when he shaved the hole at the 17th, his challenge appeared at an end.
Schaper chipped in for a birdie at the 16th, his third chip-in of the week, and hit a superb approach at the next for another birdie to move alongside Norris.
He found a bunker at the last to prevent him making a tournament-winning birdie and headed back down the 18th with Norris.
Norris hit a fine drive and approach into the green and while Schaper found sand off the tee, he sent a breathtaking hybrid straight at the pin and onto the back fringe - a shot sportingly applauded by Norris.
The younger man brilliantly holed his putt for an eagle and his first DP World Tour win.
“First there’s one thing I need to say," said Schaper at the trophy presentation. "I just want to thank my Lord and saviour Jesus Christ, there’s only one reason I’m out here.
“To my family, my friends, my coach, this is something I dreamed of.
“Obviously Shaun had an incredible round of golf to get into the play-off today but I got myself into the play-off.
“If you told me at 16, that’s quite a tough par three, to chip in there for birdie, make a nice little birdie on 17, you always stay out there fighting and when I was in that play-off, it’s either Shaun or myself going to win so you just hit the shots and play attacking.
“It goes to last week as well and having massive support out there. To be in SA, playing in an event like this and obviously this week being close to home as well, it’s just so cool.
“You obviously travel a lot for golf throughout the year and you don’t really see your friends and family that much so to be able to do this and share this moment with them, it’s pretty cool.
“If you look at the names on the trophy, it’s something you want to win. In 2020 I had the lead going down the back nine and it didn’t go my way but to come and to be standing here now, it’s incredible."
Chacarra finished third on his own at 15 under after a level-par final round, with fourth place shared by South African trio Oliver Bekker, Christiaan Burke and 2023-24 champion Louis Oosthuizen.
Frenchman Martin Couvra shot 63 to finish 12 under, tied for seventh with England's John Parry. A five-way South African tie between Aldrich Potgieter, Samuel Simpson, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Michael Hollick and Branden Grace completed the top 10.
