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Top gun……Charl Schwartzel of South Africa proudly displays the Africa Open Trophy

Charl Schwartzel fired a closing six-under-par 67 to clinch a one-stroke victory in the Africa Open in East London while Tongo Charamba made his 2010 intentions clear with an encouraging display at the highly competitive Africa Open that ran form 7-10 January at East London Golf Course in South Africa. Charamba, who was one of three Zimbabwean golfers in the 156-strong field for the event posted rounds of 72, 67, 68 and 74 on the par-73 course for an 11-under-par 281 total.

That was enough to give Charamba a share of 35th position with seven other golfers, three of which were South Africans - Titch Moore (66, 72, 70, 73), Anthony Michael (71, 70, 67, 73) and Oliver Bekker (69, 70, 68, 74). The other golfers who finished on 11-under-par were Peter Baker (70, 70, 68, 73) of England, Portugal's Jose-Felipe Lima (68, 72, 69, 72) and the Australian pair of Scott Hend (72, 69, 71, 69) and Matthew Zions (72, 69, 70, 70). Charamba and the other seven 35th place finishers collected R74, 000 each for their efforts.

The tournament, which featured a host of international players form largely the European Tour and Australian PGA Tour, was won by South Africa's Charl Schwartzel who had rounds of 67, 70, 68 and 67 for a staggering 20-under-par 272 total and the R1, 6 million winner's prize. Another South African, Thomas Aiken was the runner-up on 19-under 273 after posting scores of 67, 67, 69 and 70. Aiken won R1,2 million for his endeavours. Jbe' Kruger made it an all-South Africa top three after rounds of 69, 68, 67 and 70 left him on 18-under-par 274. He earned R700, 000 in winnings.

Completing the top finishers was the quartet of Australian Rick Kulacz, Englishman James Morrison and the South African duo of Chris Swanepoel and Trevor Fisher (Jr) who shared fourth position on 17-under-par 275. Kulacz had rounds of 72, 69, 67 and 67 while Morrison had scores of 68, 70, 69 and 68 with Swanepoel shooting a 71 and three successive rounds of 68. Fisher (Jr) posted scores of 66, 66, 71 and 72. Each of the fourth-placed golfers pocketed a cool R400, 000.

While Charamba was having a good outing at the Africa Open, it was all misery for the other two locals - Marc Cayeux and Ryan Cairns who both failed to make the cut for the second-half of the tournament. Cayeux had rounds of 71 and 71 for a 4-under 142 total in the first 36 holes but that was still not good enough to make the cut in a tournament with a huge international presence. Cairns fared even worse, posting an opening round 72 before slipping out of contention with a miserable 78 for a 4-over-par 150 total.

However, Cairns and Cayeux will get a chance to redeem themselves when they compete in the Johannesburg Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington East from 14-17 January. At the Johannesburg Open, Cairns and Cayeux will be joined by Charamba in the main field for the tournament that has also attracted a huge international field that includes the majority of the golfers who took part in the Africa Open such as Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland and recently crowned Africa Open champion, Charl Schwartzel of South Africa.

In the Johannesburg Open, the local trio of Charamba, Cayeux and Cairns could be joined by the likes of Mike Curtis, Sean Farrell, Nick MacDonald, Mohammad Mandhu and Robson Saurombe in the main field for the tournament provided the quintet manages to do well in the 136-field pre-qualifier. The pre-qualifier will take place on Tuesday 12 January.

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