SUNDAY JANUARY 8, 2012 – AFRICA OPEN
• His fourth European Tour International Schedule victory in his 192nd European Tour event.
• Goes to the top of The Race to Dubai with €158,500.
• Makes a successful defence of his Africa Open title, having defeated Manuel Quiros and Chris Wood in a play-off 12 months ago.
• This victory represents the first time he has successfully defended a title on The European Tour International Schedule. (Did win the Telkom PGA Championship on the Sunshine Tour in back-to-back years in 2007-08).
• Becomes the fourth different South African player to make a successful defence of a European Tour title. He follows: Ernie Els (2002-04 Heineken Classic), Trevor Immelman (2003-04 South African Open Championship) and Charl Schwartzel (2010-11 Joburg Open).
• The Africa Open is the just the second official European Tour event that South Africa has won for three consecutive seasons. This follows the South African Open Championship, between 2002-04 and 2005-07.
• The third consecutive South African victory in the Africa Open, following Oosthuizen (2011) and Charl Schwartzel (2010), since the event became part of The European Tour. (The Africa Open was first played in 2008. Shaun Norris won that year, followed by Retief Goosen in 2009, both from South Africa).
• The first player since Martin Kaymer (2010-11 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship) to win the same European Tour event in back-to-back years.
• Becomes the 33rd different player to successfully defend a European Tour title.
• Has now finished inside the top eight in his last six consecutive European Tour events and is a total of 93 under par for these tournaments. This dates back to the 2011 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
OTHER FACTS
• The 102nd South African victory in European Tour history.
• Claims his ninth win as a professional.
• Has now won on The European Tour in each of the last three seasons.
• Moves over €6 million in European Tour Official Career Earnings.
