Home favourite Bezuidenhout wins Alfred Dunhill Championship

Heading into the final round three strokes off the pace, the 26-year-old recovered from a double bogey on the seventh to card a blemish-free back nine and finish four shots clear of the field.

Three birdies after the turn helped the South African to 69 for the day and 14 under for the tournament, with England's Richard Bland in a tie for second with Sean Crocker, Adrian Meronk and Jayden Schaper on 10 under par.

Bezuidenhout, who has battled to the sport's elite level despite nearly dying as a child after drinking rat poison, last claimed a European Tour title at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters in June 2019.

A champion on home soil!@BezChristiaan wins the #DunhillChamps pic.twitter.com/ifR9ENgQ4l

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) November 29, 2020

"It's incredible," said Bezuidenhout, who finished in a tie for 38th at the Masters this month. "This tournament has been close to my heart since I played it for the first time. It's always been a tournament I wanted to win and to pull it off today is really, really special to me.

"I'm proud of myself to stick in there and to have pulled it off round here.

"I played with Louis [Oosthuizen] and Charl [Schwartzel] in a practice round at Augusta and they said you can't play this course the way you played it with the previous grass on it. I never thought of it that way and I just came here with a different frame of mind and I played it like it's playing now: firm and fast."

Bland, who shot 70 on Sunday, was the only other top-five finisher to card a final round under par.