GEORGE, South Africa -- After narrowly losing out last year, British celebrity DJ Spoony vowed he would be back with a vengeance to claim the 2009 Gary Player Invitational presented by Coca-Cola. And led by a brilliant performance from businessman and alliance partner Abdullah Al Naboodah, he did exactly this at The Links at Fancourt on Sunday.

Spoony and Al Naboodah, who partnered professionals Vincent Tshabalala and Thomas Aiken, claimed a nailbiting victory in the fourball alliance competition of this premier charity tournament.

The competition was eventually decided on a count out on 22-under. This denied Irish property magnate Sinead Kenny the chance to become the first businesswoman to lead a team to victory in the team competition. Kenny combined well with playing partners John Bland, Tjaart van der Walt and South African cricket legend Barry Richards, but on the day Spoony and Al Naboodah's fourball posted the lower score to seal the win.

"When I lost so narrowly last year, I vowed to come back and it would be game on," said Spoony. "We cut it pretty fine today, but combined superbly over the closing holes. I'm delighted and I'll definitely be back to defend."

Naboodah, who made the biggest contribution at the charity auction, was the team's star performer and also confirmed that he will soon be booking his ticket back to next year's tournament.

"It would be fantastic to return and I will do my best to be here. This was one of the best tournaments I've ever played in. My family and I are very passionate about charities around the world. When I met Gary a year ago, we spoke about giving back through golf. I have a lot of respect for what he does. We just enjoyed ourselves out there and it's a bonus to walk away with a win."

It was a win-win-win situation all around. In the professional betterball competition, Masters champion Angel Cabrera capped a spectacular debut in the Gary Player Invitational when he teamed up with senior professional Tony Johnstone to win and - golf aside - the tournament exceeded expectation when it raised a record amount of approximately R5-million for underprivileged children.

Cabrera and Johnstone won the 36-hole tournament by three strokes on 15 under par, closing with a betterball score of 65 - hardly surprising considering both are current Masters champions, with Cabrera having won the green jacket at Augusta National this year and Johnstone having won the British Senior Masters.

'We dovetailed superbly," Johnstone said of the five birdies they made coming in to take the title. "Angel is a pleasure to play with because he is so relaxed. You feel like he might just start yawning at any moment during the round."

Cabrera was delighted with the victory, which is his first in Africa.

"Now the only continent where I haven't won is Australia," he said, before adding that Antarctica was obviously also not on his win list yet. And it doesn't look like they'll be building a golf course there anytime soon.

"I had a great time playing with Tony. It's been a long time since I last saw him and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a pity that we couldn't pull it off in the team competition as well but maybe we can try again next year."

On an overcast final day, the professional team of John Bland and Tjaart van der Walt seemed destined to take the title. But not even their once five-stroke lead on the front nine could counter Cabrera and Johnstone's tremendous back nine charge.

Johnstone made three consecutive birdies from the 14th and Cabrera birdied the final three holes.

The real turnaround came on the 14th. Van Der Walt made double bogey on a hole where Bland couldn't score, and that dropped them into a group on 11 under. Playing ahead of them, Cabrera and Johnstone both birdied 16 to become the new leaders, before Cabrera finished it off with a further two birdies.

Bland and Van Der Walt shared second on 12 under with the team of Omar Sandys and Bill Longmuir.

The drama on the 14th also shook up the amateur alliance competition as Kenny and Richards were knocked off the top of the leaderboard for the first time by Spoony and Al Naboodah in an amateur battle which remained a fierce one right into the scorer's area.

FINAL RESULT

Fourball Alliance (best two scores to count; winners determined on count out)
-22 Abdullah Al Naboodah UAE/DJ Spoony ENG/Vincent Tshabalala/Thomas Aiken -15, -7
-22 Sinead Kenny IRE/Barry Richards/John Bland/Tjaart van der Walt -16,6
-20 Dr Hasso Plattner GER/Sarah Stirk ENG/Tony Johnstone ZIM/Angel Cabrera ARG -9,-11
-20 Dr Hans-Walter Peters GER/Sir Clive Woodward ENG/Bertus Smit/Garth Mulroy -9,-11
-18 Scott DeSano USA/Kevin Curren/Bill Longmuir ENG/Omar Sandys -9, -9
-14 Alex Maditsi/Shaun Bartlett/Mark McNulty IRE/Henrietta Zuel ENG -5,-9
-9 Hugh Connerty Ard Matthews Gary Player Retief Goosen -1, -8
-7 Hendrik Riehmer GER/Christiaan Basson/Bobby Jones/Sandra Gal GER -2, -5

Betterball Medal (professionals only):
131 Tony Johnstone ZIM/Angel Cabrera ARG 66-65
134 John Bland/Tjaart van der Walt 63-71
134 Bill Longmuir ENG/Omar Sandys 68-66
135 Bertus Smit/Garth Mulroy 66-69
135 Gary Player/Retief Goosen 70-65
138 Vincent Tshabalala/Thomas Aiken 67-71
139 Mark McNulty IRE/Henrietta Zuel ENG 69-70
148 Bobby Jones/Sandra Gal GER 69-72

Lali Stander
Media Manager
Gary Player Invitational
Black Knight International
22 Kildare Road, Newlands
Cape Town, 7700, South Africa
Tel: +27 21 671 5159
Fax: +27 21 671 2250
Cell: +27 82 990 7150
lali@garyplayer.co.za
www.garyplayerinvitational.com