Lee Westwood hit one of the shots of his life en route to a final round 64 and a third Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC) title on Sunday.

The Englishman blazed his way around the Gary Player Country Club to finish 15-under for the tournament but couldn’t quite match the 62 he carded in the third round here on his way to the title in 2011.

Westwood’s five birdies on the back nine came round about the same time things started going south for Louis Oosthuizen as well as overnight leader Sergio Garcia.  

Westwood hit an amazing approach to the intimidating 17th green which served to underline his class as his nearest rivals started to feel the heat.

“I hit one of the best shots of my career into 17 with a seven-iron from 183 to 10-feet. You don’t hit shots like that very often.

“It was a great round of golf. The wind was moving around a bit and I was looking at the pin positions and there were a few smelly, tough pin positions.

“You need a bit of patience and aim away from the flag a lot of the time and play away from certain areas for the easier putts.

“I played a pretty flawless round of golf with hitting it into the right areas. There were only a couple of times when I was out of position which is incredible around Sun City because it drags you out of position and it is intimidating enough off the tee.

"I was proud with the way I played and proud with the way I putted.”

Earlier this week Westwood, who last won on the European Tour four years ago, was teased by the rake-like Haotong Li of China about the size of his belly, but the 45-year-old stressed he still feels in great shape.

“Physically I still feel good and today proved to me I can still do it mentally under pressure.”

The pressure eventually got to Oosthuizen who needed a miracle on the last. He spectacularly fell out of contention when he missed the fairway, way right.

He then attempted a miracle shot which required his ball to miss the lip of the adjacent cart path, somehow thread the trees in close proximity, before clearing the fairway, the lake and the slope up to a tucked away pin on the 18th green.

His ball didn’t make it past the first obstacle.

“I could have killed someone on that second shot,” he said about the shot that hit the cart path lip and sped past him before coming to rest next to a make-shift stand.

He recorded a double bogey six on the last which dropped him to third behind Garcia. Oosthuizen however was not too downcast about how his round unfolded.

“If I had a lead and screwed up then it would be a different story. I was outplayed really.

“I played good. I made a lot of birdies and I made a good run at it. Westwood played great. I was pushing hard. The putt I missed on 17 knocked the wind out of my sails.

“It was a good putt and it didn’t go in and I knew I needed it for a chance to go play-off.”

“I had to hit a hard three-wood on the last because the driver was gonna go to the bunker, just to give myself a chance to hit a seven iron, maybe into that pin.

“I had to take it on and see if I could hit some miracle shot and make two.”

 Apart from an opening round 64, Garcia adopted a conservative approach around this demanding course.  

“They watered the greens,” the Spaniard noted. “I’m not sure if they were scared of the heat. You had to get used to that. To shoot 64 in the last round is amazing. I’m happy for him. I played as hard as I could but I didn’t have my A-game.

“I stayed patient and played hard and almost won. It was a positive week,” said Garcia.

The big mover on the final morning was China’s Li but he ran out of steam in the closing holes and had to settle for an albeit impressive 65.

England’s Chris Paisley played with similar intent carding eight birdies in his round of 67.

Westwood however bagged the main prize and a cheque of $1.25m (R17.91m) which makes him the highest earner in the event’s history.