• Alfred Dunhill Championship, Round Four

Martin survives late disaster at Leopard Creek

Pablo Martin eagled the par-five second © Getty Images

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Pablo Martin survived a triple-bogey nightmare at the 17th to become the first man to defend the Alfred Dunhill Championship, winning by two strokes on Sunday.

The Spaniard has a special affinity with the Leopard Creek event, after it became the site of his maiden European Tour triumph as a professional last year. Martin had previously won the Estoril Open de Portugal in 2007, but he did so as an amateur - meaning he had to forfeit the winner's cheque.

He looked on course for a cruise to victory on the 7,249-yard course in South Africa this weekend, reaching the penultimate hole with a three-shot advantage. However, disaster struck at 17 as he limped to a triple-bogey seven, temporarily cancelling out his lead at the top of the leaderboard.

Martin's drive off the tee was where the drama started, with the ball burying itself into a sandtrap. The Spaniard's attempt to escape then remarkably saw the ball disappear into the fringe of the bunker, forcing him to take a drop. From there his approach left a long putt for bogey, which Martin left well short to set up the eventual triple-bogey.

The defending champion ended up signing for a two-under-par 70, taking him to 11-under for the tournament. Anthony Michael could have tied, but he too had trouble on the 17th, hitting a bogey to fall back to nine-under.

Thorbjorn Olesen gave himself a fine chance of victory on the final day with a flawless round of 66. The Dane hit six birdies to claim a share of second alongside Michael and Charl Schwartzel.

Elsewhere, England's Robert Rock sparkled briefly before fading disappointingly as he finished tied for eighth place on five-under. Rock birdied three of the first four holes, but he slumped to a quadruple-bogey on the 17th to sign for a 71.

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