Casey Jarvis came agonisingly close to writing a piece of history

Casey Jarvis came within a whisker of recording his third successive victory on the DP World Tour. The only other players to have achieved the feat are Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo, so Jarvis was attempting to join some pretty exalted company.

In a season that has already seen Jayden Schaper win back-to-back and Patrick Reed also record two victories, South African Jarvis was looking to outdo both men at the Joburg Open but he missed a birdie putt on the final green to force a playoff with Dan Bradbury, meaning the Englishman won the title for a second time.

Jarvis’ form has been extraordinary this season. He was third at the Mauritius Open, tied ninth in Bahrain and then won the Magical Kenya Open and South African Open in successive weeks.

In an extraordinary finish to the tournament, it looked like South African Hennie du Plessis was in pole position when he reached the turn with a three-shot lead but he dropped three shots at the 15th and 16th to fade out of contention.

Jarvis hit the front late on but bogeyed the 17th before missing a birdie putt at the last which would have extended the tournament.

There was more drama. Brandon Robinson Thompson had gone down the final hole with a one-shot lead, but three-putted to finish alongside Jarvis at 16 under.

Bradbury overshot the last green but then played a wonderful recovery shot for a tap-in par which sealed his third DP World Tour success and second at Houghton Golf Club.

"It sounds pretty good," Bradbury said. "I thought I lost it on front nine, I had so many chances and I just didn't take anything. It feels really good to put it together on the back nine, probably wasn't expecting it as Hennie was playing so well, but yeah, feels amazing.

"Casey and Brandon were obviously playing amazing because I saw their names on the leaderboard all the way round - it was tight all the way round wasn't it - but I somehow managed to get it done in the end.

"It's probably similar to Wakefield where I grew up. It's quite tight, tree-lined and got to drive it well. I did that and putted pretty solid this week, although it didn't feel amazing, but got the result and that's all that matters."

His final round of 65 gave him a winning total of 17 under par but oh how close Jarvis came to writing a piece of history.