The World No 5, who has been sidelined for more than four months following a water sport accident in July and began the day two off the lead, carded an error free 4-under 68 for a 14 under tally that gave him a comprehensive victory by three shots from compatriots Louis Oosthuizen and last year's champion Charl Schwartzel.

But it might not have been so easy for Els had overnight leader and playing partner Ulrich van den Berg's final-stretch edginess not caused his game to come apart at the seams.

Van den Berg was three strokes ahead at the turn after four birdies in his opening eight holes and looked to be heading for a memorable win, but a triple-bogey seven at the short par-four 11th was clearly his undoing.

Here he found trouble off the tee, took a penalty drop, but then hit his approach into a bunker and finally three-putted for a disaster from which he never recovered.

It was followed by another dropped shot at the 192-yard next where Els fiunally seized the opportunity he had waited so patiently for at Leopard Creek Country Club's unforgiving, watery lay-out..

Revving now, the Big Easy birdied the 13th and 15th, both par fives, to go two ahead at 14-under and when Van den Berg double-bogeyed after going in water at the par-three 16th it was game set and match.

Van den Berg went on to finish the 2nd round with a hacker's 44 after once more three-putting the 17th for yet another bogey and had to feel discontented after his 3-over 75 had him finishing six shots back on eight under in a 4th place tie with Champions Tour veteran Bobby Lincoln, Trevor Immelman and Britain's highest finisher David Lynn

Lynn's performance was made all the more memorable by the fact that he was stung by a scorpion on the night before his opening tee-off.

Els was over the moon at winning again on a course he "loves", but he took time to "feel for Ulrich" and to praise Schwartzel and Oosthuizen as great prospects who will keep the South African golfing flag flying high in the future.

"A week ago I would have been happy just to have broken 80 because of my knee," said Els, who is a member of the Leopard Creek Country Club, has a house on the estate and "knows the course well".

"I felt I played consistently well this week, especially today, and I never really played any risky shots.

"To win so soon after coming back to tournament golf is like a dream come true."

Els was typically gracious in victory, adding: "I feel for Ulrich, He had a great round going there and he just fell short at the end. But he is a hell of a player and a great gentleman."

ALL THE FINAL SCORES:

274 Ernie Els 71 67 68 68

277 Charl Schwartzel 70 67 70 70, Louis Oosthuizen 69 67 71 70

280 Bobby Lincoln 72 70 73 65, Ulrich Van Den Berg 70 69 65 76, Trevor Immelman 69 69 74 68, David Lynn (Eng) 73 68 71 68

281 Alan Michell 70 68 71 72, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 70 70 73 68, Sean Farrell (Zim) 69 68 73 71, Jaco Van Zyl 68 71 69 73

282 Titch Moore 68 68 73 73, Phillip Archer (Eng) 66 70 74 72, Thomas Aiken 69 71 73 69

283 Richard Finch (Eng) 73 68 71 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 69 69 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 68 73 72 70

284 Keith Horne 73 71 65 75, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 69 71 72, Doug McGuigan (Sco) 68 69 72 75, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 71 71 71, Ross Wellington 72 68 76 68, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 73 72 65 74

285 Gary Clark (Eng) 69 73 74 69, Gary Murphy (Irl) 71 69 77 68, Miguel Carballo (Arg) 70 75 69 71

286 Richard Sterne 72 71 73 70, Matthew Millar (Aus) 73 67 73 73, Martin Maritz 71 73 69 73, Michiel Bothma 64 71 78 73, James Kingston 70 67 73 76, Brandon Pieters 70 74 73 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 73 73 73, Jonathan Lomas (Eng) 72 67 72 75, Damien McGrane (Irl) 70 70 76 70

287 Steve Van Vuuren 72 72 73 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 71 73 71, Tjaart Van der Walt 72 70 73 72, David CarterEng) 69 73 74 71, Grant Veenstra 69 68 74 76, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 70 73 71 73, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 71 74 71, Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 72 66 73 76, Michael Lamb (Zim) 73 72 67 75

288 Tyrone Van Aswegen 70 75 70 73, Nic Henning 70 67 80 71, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 68 71 70 79, Felipe Aguilar (Col) 71 70 71 76, Garry Houston (Wal) 74 69 70 75, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 71 76 70

289 Tuomas Tuovinen (Fij) 68 74 72 75

290 Matthew Richardson (Eng) 74 68 75 73, Oliver Whiteley (Eng) 73 69 71 77, Magnus P Atlevi (Swe) 70 73 73 74

291 Patrick O'Brien 70 70 75 76,Ross Fisher (Eng) 68 72 71 80

292 Sam Walker (Eng) 71 74 74 73, Ben Willman (Eng) 71 71 74 76, Gregory Havret (Fra) 71 70 70 81

294 Brett Liddle 78 67 73 76, Justin Walters 71 69 75 79, Jason Kelly 73 70 79 72, Anton Haig 79 66 80 69, Hennie Otto 76 68 72 78, Mike Michell 71 72 76 75, Andrew Butterfield (Eng) 72 73 73 76

295 Johan Kok 69 74 73 79, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 73 71 72 79

296 Toni Karjalainen (Fij) 69 72 81 74, Nico Van Rensburg 72 72 76 76, Anders Sjostrand (Swe) 75 67 73 81, Thabang Simon 71 72 75 78, Jean Hugo 67 74 74 81

297 Darren Fichardt 71 73 76 77, Francis Valera (Spa) 72 71 76 78

301 Neil Cheetham (Eng) 73 70 80 78

302 Phil Worthington (Eng) 73 71 77 81