It was so near yet so far for Oliver Bekker on Sunday as he came within a play-off of a maiden DP World Tour title. He lost on the sixth extra hole to Spaniard Adri Arnaus in the Catalunya Championship after the pair finished tied on 11-under-par.

Arnaus started the day seven shots off the lead and did not look a likely winner when he turned in 34, with Bekker and Laurie Canter doing battle at the top of the leaderboard at PGA Catalunya Golf and Wellness.

But he came home in 31 with the help of an eagle on the 12^th to set the target at 11-under and was left to watch Bekker, who still had a one-shot lead as Arnaus was signing his card, finish his round.

A three-putt from the South African on the 16^th made it a tie as he signed for a 72 and Arnaus was heading to a third DP World Tour play-off in seven months after defeats at the 2021 Acciona Open de España and March’s MyGolfLife Open hosted by Pecanwood.

The five trips back up the last produced reasonably stress-free pars all-round but when they moved to the 17^th for the sixth extra hole, Bekker missed the green and could not get up and down, allowing Arnaus to take the title with a par after putting his approach to six feet.

Canter finished two shots out of the play-off alongside fellow Englishman Richard McEvoy and Pole Adrian Meronk, with South African Hennie du Plessis and Italy’s Edoardo Molinari at eight-under.

Bekker will probably look back on the par-five 15^th in the final round as being the place where he could have put the tournament out of reach of his opponents. He made birdie there in the first round, and eagles in the second and third. So a par in the final round was a bit deflating, and it showed when he made the bogey on 16.

Du Plessis carded the low round of the week with his eagle and six birdies taking him from level-par to eight-under for the tournament, and a rise of 40 places on the leaderboard.

Thriston Lawrence closed with a three-under 69 to finish in a share of 18^th on four-under, while Darren Fichardt’s one-under 71 saw him home in a share of 26^th on one-under. Justin Walters finished in a share of 42^nd with Daniel van Tonder.

For Bekker, the week brought yet another rise in his position on the DP World Tour rankings as he moved into 16^th place, up 17 places from last week.