Golf: Saltman shows grit

Seventh at the halfway stage in the European Tour's first event of the year, the 28-year-old ended up in a tie for 23rd after closing rounds of 73 and 72.

He got off to a bad start on Saturday, dropping shots at the opening two holes before picking up his second eagle of the week later in the round.

And, in yesterday's closing round, the Aegon player took the gloss off five birdies with a double-bogey 6 at the ninth.

He finished on nine-under 283, earning just over 8,700 in what was only his second start since earning a place on the circuit as a Qualifying School graduate.

"It was good for my first tournament of the year but could have been better," said Saltman, who finished seven shots behind Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and the two other players, Chris Wood and Manuel Quiros, he beat in a play-off to lift the title.

"I hit a couple of loose shots and also made some wee mental errors. It is nothing to worry about, though, and I will only get better as I play more tournaments."

Next up for Saltman is another date in South Africa, where the Joburg Open starts on Thursday. His younger brother, Lloyd, finished in a tie for 56th on one-under in the Eastern Cape, where he had also been in the top 10 after an opening 68. He hit five birdies in six holes early in his third round before the fireworks stopped and the last ten holes were covered in three-over.

The back nine also proved his undoing yesterday, a bogey at the short tenth being followed by a costly 7 at the 12th.

Oosthuizen, back in the winners' circle for the first time since his Open win at St Andrews, enjoyed a stroke of luck in the play-off when he pulled his tee shot into the rough on the left but the ball jumped out into the fairway. Making the most of that break, the man from Mossel Bay then hit his approach to 15 feet and holed the birdie putt for the title.

Earlier he closed with a three-under-par 70 to join Wood (68) and Quiros (69) on 16-under.

"It's been one of those weeks when the putter was very cold," said Oosthuizen of his third European Tour triumph.

"But my caddie (Zack Rasego] kept me so calm by telling me it would go in eventually."

Englishman Wood set the early pace in the clubhouse before Quiros birdied the last three holes to join him on 276. Oosthuizen, who started out as the joint overnight leader with Austrian Markus Brier, then parred the last three holes to set up the three-way play-off.

Brier began in spectacular fashion with three straight birdies but a run of four bogeys in the next six holes meant he eventually had to settle for a 73 and 279.

Defending champion Charl Schwartzel (70) finished in a share of fourth place on 277 with fellow South African Jaco Van Zyl and Scot Steven O'Hara, who stormed through the field thanks to a joint-best-of-the-day 67.

"It's a very positive start to the season," admitted O'Hara.