Fichardt, who cut short his European Tour in an attempt to win the Sunshine Tour's Winter Order of Merit crown and promptly secured a win in last week's Vodacom Origins of Golf Tour Final, clinched this week's victory by rolling home a 10-foot putt at the second play-off hole to deny the luckless Haindl for the second week running.

This after both had fired 1-under 71s and posted 12-under 204s in Sunday's third and final round

Dean Lambert, also of Pretoria, delivered the low round of the day, shooting a 6-under 66, to rocket into a tie for third with Albert Pistorius (67), Chris Swanepoel (68), Mohamed Tayob (70), Callie Swart (71) and first round leader Grant Muller (71) after starting the final round in 16th place.

Haindl, trailing Fichardt coming down the final stretch, finally caught him with a dramatic eagle that was clinched with a 40-foot putt at the par-5 17th and then matched Fichardt's par at the 18th to force the play-off.

They halved the first extra hole with pars at the 18th, then went back to the same tee box for a second time.

Fichardt promptly drove the ball down the middle of the fairway, but Haindl hooked his drive and found himself in trouble among the trees separating the ninth and 18th fairways.

His bump-and-run through the trees came up 40-feet short of the green and his chip some 15-feet from the hole

Fichardt's second shot, in the meantime, pitched to 10-feet below the hole and found almost exactly the same lie from where he had missed a formality putt at the first play-off hole.

He didn't make the same mistake the second time.

"Once you're in a playoff, the pressure's off a little, because the worst you can do is second," said Fichardt, who collected R62,800 for the win and moved to 11th on the Sunshine Tour's order of merit list.

"But you never really like to win like this," said Fichardt, who was denied a second Bearing Man Highveld Classic title in 1999, when he lost on the same green to Bobby Lincoln.

"But at the end of the day, the way Alex and I were struggling today, I'll take it (his win) anyway it comes."

Haindl, true to form, was seemingly unfazed as he congratulated Fichardt and then suggested in his usual laid-back manner that victory might come his way next week.

On the upside for him, the 23-year old from Bloemfontein now tops the Merit list, leading Steve Basson and Thomas Aiken by R27,000.

Ironically, it was the third week on the trot that the duo had faced each other in a final round.

"Darren is two up, but there are still a lot of tournaments before the end of the season," said Haindl. "As long as I can keep my nose in contention, I am convinced a win will come my way."

from Lali Stander

ALL THE FINAL SCORES

(RSA unless stated, par 72)

204 - *Darren Fichardt 66 67 71, Alex Haindl 69 64 71

205 - Dean Lambert 71 68 66, Albert Pistorius 70 68 67, Chris Swanepoel 68

69 68, Mohamed Tayob 69 66 70, Callie Swart 69 65 71, Grant Muller 65 69 71

206 - Kevin Stone 68 72 66, Andrew Curlewis 68 71 67

207 - Mawonga Nomwa 73 69 65, Desvonde Botes 73 66 68, Dion Fourie 68 68 71,

Adilson da Silva (BRA) 69 67 71

208 - Clinton Whitelaw 72 70 66, Louis Oosthuizen 71 68 69, Doug McGuigan

(SCO) 72 67 69, Ross Wellington 68 65 75

209 - Hennie Otto 67 75 67, Trevor Fisher Jnr 72 68 69, Steve van Vuuren 68

72 69, Sean Farrell (ZIM) 72 68 69, Des Terblanche 69 71 69, Michiel Bothma

68 70 71, Omar Sandys 68 69 72, André Cruse 71 66 72

210 - Chris Williams 72 70 68, Alex Baillie 68 71 71

211 - Neil Cheetham (ENG) 74 68 69, Brandon Pieters 75 67 69, Ulrich van den

Berg 70 70 71, Jon Bethwaite 69 70 72, Titch Moore 69 69 73, Thomas Aiken 67

69 75

212 - Alan Michell 70 72 70, Wallie Coetsee 69 72 71, Grant Veenstra 70 71

71, Steve Basson 70 70 72

213 - Werner Geyer 68 73 72, Matthew Kent 73 68 72, Mark Murless 72 69 72,

Wayne de Haas 67 73 73

214 - Leonard Loxton 72 71 71, Lindani Ndwandwe 71 72 71

216 - James Kamte 70 73 73, Vaughn Groenewald 71 71 74

222 - Patrick O'Brien 76 67 79

DSQ - Eugen Marugi 71 70 DSQ