Els looked to have blown his chances of back-to-back victories on home soil when he double-bogeyed the 12th after pulling his second shot into a water hazard.

The South African stormed back with a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th to draw level with playing partner Goosen once more.

But overnight leader Goosen chipped in for birdie on the 17th to edge clear once more and also birdied the last from through the green after Els missed from four feet for eagle to force a play-off.

Goosen's final-round 70 gave him a 10-under-par total of 282, while Els' 68 was one of the lowest rounds of the week on a hugely testing Links course.

Darren Fichardt and France's Gregory Bourdy shared third place on two under par, the only other players in red figures.

Goosen said: "Ernie played very well and I got away with it at the end there.

"It's great to win this trophy again, the last time was 10 years ago so it's great to get my hands on it again."

Collated final round scores from the SAA Open at Fancourt:

282 Retief Goosen (RSA)

283 Ernie Els (RSA)

290 Gregory Bourdy (FRA), Darren Fichardt (RSA)

292 Gregory Havret (FRA), Keith Horne (RSA), Mattias Eliasson (SWE)

293 Francesco Molinari (ITA)

294 Tim Clark (RSA), Ross Fisher (ENG)

295 James Kingston (RSA)

296 Trevor Immelman (RSA), Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA), Charl Schwartzel (RSA)

297 Bobby Lincoln (RSA), Tjaart van der Walt (RSA), Ian Hutchings (RSA)

298 Andrew McLardy (RSA), Mike Lamb (ZIM), Johan Edfors (SWE), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)

299 Jean-Francois Remesy (FRA), Miguel Carballo (ARG), Henrik Nystrom (SWE)

300 Gary Clark (ENG), Ariel Canete (ARG), Leif Westerberg (SWE), David Lynn (ENG), Oliver Whiteley (ENG), Jean Hugo (RSA)

301 Peter Karmis (RSA), Des Terblanche (RSA), David Dixon (ENG), Mark Murless (RSA), Justin Rose (ENG)

302 John Bele (RSA), Phillip Archer (ENG), Steve van Vuuren (RSA), Jonathan Lomas (ENG), David Drysdale (SCO), Marc Cayeux (ZIM), Leonard Loxton (RSA), Warren Abery (RSA)

303 Ross Wellington (RSA), Lee Slattery (ENG), Richard Sterne (RSA)

304 Michele Reale (ITA), Andrew Coltart (SCO), Omar Sandys (RSA), Martin Maritz (RSA), Scott Dunlap (USA)

305 Malcolm MacKenzie (ENG), Dean Lambert (RSA), Michiel Bothma (RSA), Alan Michell (RSA), Andrew Butterfield (ENG), Desvonde Botes (RSA

306 Patrick O'Brien (RSA), Adilson da Silva (BRA), Francisco Valera (ESP), Dijon Tintinger (RSA), Kevin Stone (RSA), Joakim Haeggman (SWE), David Griffiths (ENG)

307 Chris Davison (RSA), Titch Moore (RSA)

308 Brett Liddle (RSA), Doug McGuigan (SCO), Jaco van Zyl (RSA), Anton Haig (RSA), Garry Houston (WAL)

309 Trevor Fisher Jnr (RSA)

310 Bradford Vaughan (RSA)

311 James Kamte (RSA), Warrick Druian (RSA)

312 Ashley Roestoff (RSA)

313 Shaun Norris (RSA), Steven Jeppesen (SWE), Felipe Aguilar (CHL)

322 Neil Cheetham (ENG)