Matteo Manassero marked his return to the DP World Tour winner’s circle in a dramatic victory befitting of the journey he has been on over the past 11 years when he won the Jonsson Workwear Open in the dark at Glendower Golf Club on Sunday.

With a late weather delay putting the finish of the Sunshine Tour co-sanctioned tournament in doubt, play resumed at 18:00 and Manassero completed a finish of four straight birdies for a 66 and a three-stroke victory on 26 under par.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s wonderful to experience these emotions again on a golf course,” said Manassero, whose journey from golf prodigy to the wilderness of the game and then back again is one of the great fairytales in the game.

“It’s incredible. It’s really difficult to put into words. I’m definitely proud of what I’ve been through. But I also don’t want to look at the past and the tougher times. I want to enjoy the moment. To finish like I did was incredible. I’ve been through a lot of emotions and it seems like it was written somewhere that after the restart I would finish with two more birdies.

“When the final putt went in you kind of have a drop in emotions that build up over the past few days. It feels so good to relieve those moments. That’s what we practice for,” he said as he delivered his winning speech in the dark, but with a smile that truly lit up the 18th green.

South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence (63), Shaun Norris (68) and England’s Jordan Smith (68) shared second place on 23 under par.

For Nick Jonsson, Chairman and CEO of Jonsson Workwear, this was indeed a fairytale victory worthy of their investment in the game.

“We’ve loved our association with golf and it’s a huge honour to partner with the Sunshine Tour and DP World Tour. Anything we are involved with has to echo our own values as a company, and our involvement with golf has been good for us,” he said. – Michael Vlismas.

SCORES:

262 - Matteo Manassero 68 61 67 66

265 - Thriston Lawrence 65 70 67 63, Shaun Norris 66 66 65 68, Jordan Smith 66 66 65 68

266 - Angel Hidalgo 67 64 67 68

267 - Ivan Cantero 64 67 68 68, Oliver Bekker 65 65 68 69

268 - Connor Syme 68 67 66 67

269 - Daniel van Tonder 68 68 69 64, Tom McKibbin 67 64 69 69

270 - Ryan Van Velzen 68 70 69 63, Freddy Schott 71 64 70 65, Louis de Jager 65 69 70 66, Andrea Pavan 68 67 67 68

271 - Sam Bairstow 67 67 71 66, Matthew Baldwin 70 69 66 66

272 - Benjamin Follett-Smith 68 66 71 67, Oliver Wilson 69 68 68 67, Jason Scrivener 68 66 70 68, Thomas Aiken 69 67 67 69, Guxin Chen 71 64 66 71, Jacques Kruyswijk 66 68 66 72

273 - Daniel Brown 70 70 69 64, Ugo Coussaud 68 65 72 68, Ewen Ferguson 70 65 69 69, JC Ritchie 69 68 67 69, Andy Sullivan 70 67 67 69, Clement Sordet 69 68 66 70

274 - Jovan Rebula 70 68 69 67, Hurly Long 68 66 72 68, Ashun Wu 70 68 68 68, Niklas Norgaard 67 66 71 70, Alexander Levy 67 69 68 70, Paul Waring 67 70 67 70

275 - Lorenzo Scalise 70 67 68 70, Matthias Schwab 69 68 67 71, Casey Jarvis 67 66 69 73

276 - Joel Girrbach 70 66 74 66, Robin Williams 66 70 74 66, Jaco Ahlers 70 66 70 70

277 - Gunner Wiebe 68 70 74 65, Keenan Davidse 64 71 72 70, Sebastian Friedrichsen 69 68 70 70, Romain Langasque 67 69 69 72, Julien Guerrier 68 71 66 72

278 - Lyle Rowe 68 71 73 66, Johannes Veerman 68 70 72 68, Musiwalo Nethunzwi 70 66 72 70, Jeong Weon Ko 68 68 71 71, Albert Venter 71 67 69 71

279 - Jordan Gumberg 69 70 70 70, Santiago Tarrio 67 70 70 72, Nacho Elvira 69 69 69 72, Hennie du Plessis 69 70 66 74

280 - Will Enefer 69 71 72 68, Aaron Cockerill 69 70 68 73, Jean Hugo 71 69 66 74

281 - Ricardo Gouveia 68 71 74 68, Deon Germishuys 72 68 72 69, Dylan Frittelli 71 68 71 71, Kyle McClatchie 69 71 70 71, Luca Filippi 72 65 71 73, Joost Luiten 70 68 69 74

282 - Jaco Van Zyl 69 69 74 70, Callum Mowat 70 68 72 72, Matthew Spacey 72 68 69 73

283 - Rupert Kaminski 75 65 74 69, Jesper Svensson 71 69 71 72, MJ Viljoen 69 71 70 73, Jamie Donaldson 68 71 69 75

284 - Francesco Laporta 72 67 75 70, Karabo Mokoena 69 71 73 71, Wynand Dingle 70 69 73 72

285 - JJ Senekal 70 70 76 69, Darius van Driel 68 69 75 73, Oliver Hundeboll 71 69 71 74, Hennie Otto 72 68 71 74

Missed the cut:-

141 - Dylan Mostert 72 69, Jens Dantorp 72 69, Rafa Cabrera Bello 71 70, Louis Albertse 70 71, Adrien Saddier 71 70, Yurav Premlall 72 69, Marcus Armitage 73 68, CJ du Plessis 72 69, Martin Vorster 72 69, Ross Fisher 72 69, Marco Penge 70 71

142 - Manuel Elvira 74 68, Bjorn Akesson 70 72, David Ravetto 73 69, Wilco Nienaber 75 67, Jacques P de Villiers 73 69, James Nicholas 72 70, Jayden Schaper 71 71, Dan Bradbury 69 73, Pieter Moolman 67 75, Brandon Stone 72 70

143 - Adri Arnaus 70 73, Anton Karlsson 73 70, Peter Karmis 74 69, Jeff Winther 70 73, Tristen Strydom 70 73, Zander Lombard 70 73, Jaco Prinsloo 71 72, Chase Hanna 73 70, Stuart Manley 68 75, Espen Kofstad 74 69

144 - Combrinck Smit 72 72, Darren Fichardt 72 72, Om Prakash Chouhan 72 72, James Mack 73 71, Kyle Barker 71 73, Justin Walters 70 74, David Law 69 75, Ruan Korb 72 72, Merrick Bremner 71 73, James Morrison 71 73, Danie Van Niekerk 71 73, Franklin Manchest 72 72

145 - Jonas Blixt 74 71, Jake Redman 73 72, Todd Clements 71 74, Rikuya Hoshino 70 75, Julien Brun 73 72, Dale Whitnell 73 72

146 - Keith Horne 74 72, Willie Olivier 72 74, Dan Erickson 73 73, Keagan Thomas 72 74, Ruan de Smidt 74 72

147 - Gerhard Pepler 72 75, Nick Bachem 74 73, Malcolm Mitchell 77 70, Ockie Strydom 75 72, Dylan Naidoo 79 68, Rourke van der Spuy 75 72, Hennie O'Kennedy 72 75, Adam Blomme 76 71, Richie Ramsay 77 70, Robson Chinhoi 74 73, Max Rottluff 74 73

148 - Jacques Blaauw 72 76

149 - Neil Schietekat 76 73, Gavin Green 77 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr 73 76, Herman Loubser 74 75, Jastice Mashego 76 73

150 - Martin Rohwer 76 74, Anthony Michael 73 77, Soren Kjeldsen 75 75

152 - Heinrich Bruiners 74 78

153 - Tristin Galant 72 81, Wade Jacobs 79 74

WDN - Stefan Wears-Taylor 77 WDN, DK Kim 77 WDN