JOHANNESBURG, January 17 – For just a moment on the third hole, Charl Schwartzel looked vulnerable before he pulled away for a runaway six-stroke victory in the €1.3-million Joburg Open played on the par-71 Royal Johannesburg and Kensington East course.

The tournament is the richest of the four Sunshine Tour events co-sanctioned by the European Tour, and is the fourth in the 2010 Race to Dubai.

"This week has been probably the best golf I have ever played," said Schwartzel. "You don't go round courses like these and only make three bogeys in the week without playing well."

Schwartzel made bogey on the 434-metre (475-yard) par-four hole after he had been seen sitting nervously in players' lounge ahead of his final round, despite his overnight four-stroke lead over Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke.

"It's not easy leading by four shots," said Schwartzel. "Your mind can start playing games, and while you feel if you can just carry on playing the way you have been, you should win it, you still actually have to do it."

He settled his nerves quickly with two solid pars after that, and, when he birdied the 530-metre (580-yard) par-five sixth, the well-oiled Schwartzel machine was back on track.

He made another birdie on eight to turn at one-under for his round, and then birdies at 10 and 14 took him clear of the field as he coasted home for his second victory in two weeks after he won the Africa Open.

He wasn't done, either, and he underlined his dominance with a pair of birdies to finish on 17 and 18 – and the one on 18 came despite a nervy eagle putt which stopped three feet from the hole to leave him a bit of a tester for his moment of triumph.

In a share of second behind him was Keith Horne: The South African finished fast with a seven-under 64, the best round of the day, and his eight birdies and a bogey lifted him to 17-under 267 together with Clarke, who eagled the 18^th to climb to second with his 68.

Horne had a putt for eagle himself on 18, and it finished fractionally short. "It would have been good to make that to make sure of second," he said.

Danny Willett of England had a battling round of 68 to finish in a share of fourth with South African James Kamte, who also closed with a 68.

In a tie for sixth on 12-under 272 were England's Peter Whiteford, Joost Luiten of the Netherlands, Soren Hansen of Denmark and South African Hennie Otto.

But in the end, it's difficult to look beyond the dominance Schwartzel has shown over the last two weeks. He leads the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit by over R2.4-million from Horne, and it is almost inconceivable that he will be caught by the end of the year.

"If I keep on playing like this, there could be some big things for me," said Schwartzel.

"With the confidence I've got right now, you pretty much feel like you can win anything. And the way I played this week, I don't need to stand back for anyone. I've just got to treat the big events like this. It's just the score that counts at the end of the day."

Scores (RSA unless specified):

261 - Charl Schwartzel 63 68 64 66

267 - Keith Horne 68 65 70 64, Darren Clarke (NIR) 63 69 67 68

270 - Danny Willett (ENG) 65 67 70 68, James Kamte 67 66 69 68

272 - Peter Whiteford(SCO) 66 69 70 67, Joost Luiten (NED) 66 69 69 68, Soren Hansen (DEN) 66 70 68 68, Hennie Otto 67 66 69 70

273 - Josh Cunliffe 68 70 67 68, John Parry (ENG) 66 67 71 69

274 - Neil Cheetham (ENG) 67 69 72 66, Louis Oosthuizen 70 66 70 68, Warren Abery 69 67 70 68, Paul Broadhurst (ENG) 66 68 69 71, Jaco Van Zyl 71 64 67 72

275 - Simon Thornton (IRL) 70 65 71 69, Titch Moore 68 68 70 69, Tjaart van der Walt 67 70 67 71, Neil Schietekat 62 72 69 72, Alex Haindl 71 66 65 73

276 - Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 66 69 73 68, Marcel Siem (GER) 67 69 69 71, Jbe' Kruger 63 69 71 73

277 - Clodomiro Carranza (ARG) 65 70 71 71, David Lynn (ENG) 63 67 75 72, Robert Rock (ENG) 68 71 70 68, Michael Hoey (NIR) 68 69 67 73, Alejandro Canizares (ESP) 66 69 68 74

278 - Brandon Pieters 70 69 68 71, Darren Fichardt 67 68 72 71, Deane Pappas 67 68 72 71, Ariel Canete (ARG) 68 69 70 71, Jamie Elson (ENG) 71 67 68 72, Alexandre Kaleka (FRA) 71 67 71 69, Christian Ries 68 70 71 69, Oliver Bekker 70 64 71 73, Marc Cayeux (ZIM) 70 67 73 68, Grant Muller 71 68 72 67, Hendrik Buhrmann 68 64 69 77

279 - Carl Suneson (ESP) 66 70 73 70, Rhys Davies (WAL) 73 66 72 68, Justin Walters (RSA) 71 67 74 67

280 - Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE) 69 68 70 73, Dawie Van der Walt 70 68 70 72, Andrew McLardy 67 67 74 72, Robert Dinwiddie (ENG) 70 66 71 73, Prinavin Nelson 71 68 69 72, Richard Sterne 67 69 73 71, TC Charamba (ZIM) 68 68 68 76

281 - Andrew McArthur (SCO) 65 74 68 74, Shaun Norris 67 70 71 73, Gary Lockerbie (ENG) 70 66 71 74, Branden Grace 67 70 72 72, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (FRA) 70 68 71 72, Trevor Fisher Jnr 72 67 70 72, Edoardo Molinari (ITA) 70 69 70 72, Carlos Rodiles (ESP) 69 70 70 72, Dave Horsey (ENG) 68 71 71 71, Phillip Price (WAL) 72 67 71 71, Barry Lane (ENG) 65 72 74 70, Teboho Sefatsa 69 70 73 69

282 - Ryan Tipping 72 67 71 72, Mark Brown (NZL) 71 66 74 71

283 - Andrew Marshall (ENG) 69 69 72 73, Simon Khan (ENG) 63 74 76 70

284 - Kevin Stone 72 63 73 76, Julien Quesne (FRA) 69 70 70 75, Andrew Curlewis 68 66 76 74, Adilson da Silva (BRA) 66 71 74 73, Sam Hutsby (ENG) 70 69 73 72, Alan McLean (SCO) 71 66 76 71

285 - Theunis Spangenberg 71 68 73 73, Jacques Blaauw 68 68 78 71, Vaughn Groenewald 69 70 77 69

286 - Ross Wellington 68 69 73 76

289 - Christiaan Basson 67 72 77 73