What is it about the 18^th hole at Leopard Creek that lures players to their downfall? Ryan van Velzen became the latest victim to the wiles of the inviting approach to the final hole as he hit an ill-considered approach into the water to lose his chance at winning the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

Van Velzen was in a share of the lead at 13-under-par, and a lay-up, pitch and putt for birdie would have got him a game-changing victory. Heck, if he’d two-putted for par, he would at least have had a shot at matching clubhouse leader Shaun Norris and given himself a chance in a play-off.

But the adrenalin created by a booming drive clouded his judgement, and his second bounced left of the flag, and had too much pace to hold the narrow green. Instead, he had to hear the crowd surrounding the island green groan in confirmation that he had all but blown his shot at glory.

Spaniard Pablo Martin, in an early round in the 2009 edition of the tournament, famously chided his new caddie, who had worked in the Ladies European Tour, that he had “spent to long on the ladies’ tour” when he demanded (and got) a club to put him on the green in two.

But even the then 23-year-old, who was ranked 488^th in the world at the time, was open enough to advice in the final round as he laid up to ensure his victory. Martin was two shots ahead of Charl Schwartzel on the final tee and, despite a big drive, chose to lay up short of the lake. Schwartzel, who had three straight birdies from the 14^th before bogeying the 17^th, had to do the same after almost hooking out of bounds, but then put the pressure on by pitching close. Martin’s third shot nearly went over the green, but it hung on and he two-putted for victory.

Wales’s Sion Bebb was one victim of the 18^th hole in an unpredictable finish to the tournament that year. One behind the leader after an eagle on the 13^th, Bebb shot a sextuple-bogey 11 on the 18^th, after finding the trees and then putting two balls in the water round the green. That dropped him from fifth to 17^th alongside Ernie Els, who, after starting the day tied for second, could only shoot 77.

Els’s round ended in a double-bogey seven and Ireland’s Gareth Maybin also took seven on the 18^th when lying third. The Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera had an eight to fall from fourth to eighth.

Els had his own scar tissue created before that after he gifted victory in the 2007 tournament to the unheralded John Bickerton of England in an implosion on the 18^th.

The then three-time major winner arrived at the 18^th with a two-shot lead over Bickerton, who had already completed his round. But Els twice found the water surrounding the final green to slump to a triple-bogey eight and finish one behind Bickerton.

“Yesterday is about the most disappointed I’ve ever felt walking off a golf course,” Els told his official website afterwards. “I was gutted. But let’s keep things in proportion, this is sport. It’s not like anyone died out there. I just have to take it on the chin and move on.”

He said it was easy to be wise after the event. “I bombed a great drive down the middle of the fairway,” said Els. “I’m sure some people might say I should have laid up short of the water but I had only about 190 yards to the front edge and for me that’s a comfortable six-iron.

“I really didn’t feel like it was a lay-up situation. Like I said, people will disagree, but it’s easy to be smart and make judgements after the event. I went with what I felt was the right shot at the time.”

Els then compounded his error by wedging his fourth stroke back into the water. “It was horrible but it’s history,” he said. “It shouldn’t happen but it does.

“If you look back over the years some of the best players in the world have thrown away tournaments on the last few holes. What more can you say?”

Like Els did in the South African Open Championship immediately following the 2007 Alfred Dunhill Championship, Van Velzen has a chance to get straight back on the bicycle as he heads to Mauritius to play in the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

Bet he’ll think twice about going for the green in two on 18 at Leopard Creek for the rest of his career, though…