NELSPRUIT (15 April 2013) – Ekurhuleni caused the first major upset at this year’s South African U23 Inter-Provincial when they defeated defending champions Central Gauteng in the first round played at Nelspruit Golf Club on Monday.
Although the two teams were level at 2-all after the foursomes, the Ekurhuleni side took control in the singles, winning five of the eight games to beat their opponents 7-5.
Central Gauteng’s Matthew Kiewitz scored the first point when he downed Aaron Krishna 6/5 in the first game, but Angus Ellis-Cole got Ekurhuleni’s winning run going with a 1-up victory over Rudi Armstrong.
More Central Gauteng players tumbled to Mpho Mafishe, who beat C. Caldeira 6/5 and Kyle McClatchie, a recent semi-finalist in the SA Boys Championship, who defeated Dean Martin 1-up.
Last year’s Glacier Junior Series champion, Jason Froneman, added another point when he knocked out David Meyers 4/3 and Border/EP Stroke Play champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout claimed their seventh point when he defeated Central Gauteng number one, Darrin de Smidt 3/2.
In the other A-Section matches, Gauteng North claimed an 8.5 – 3.5 victory over the Western Province, while Southern Cape and Limpopo halved on 6-all.
The North West Province, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal emerged victorious on day one in the B-Section, with North defeating Free State & Northern Cape 9-3, Mpumalanga beating Boland 8-4 and the Eastern Province going down to KwaZulu-Natal 6.5 – 5.5.
A SECTION LOG
(Position, Union , Played, Win, Draw, Lose, Points, Games)
1 Gauteng North (1, 1, 0, 0, 2,8.5)
2 Ekurhuleni (1, 1, 0, 0, 2,7.0)
3 Southern Cape (1, 0, 1, 0, 1,6.0)
3 Limpopo (1, 0, 1, 0, 1,6.0)
5 Central Gauteng (1, 0, 0, 1, 0,5.0)
6 Western Province (1, 0, 0, 1, 0,3.5)
B SECTION LOG
(Position, Union , Played, Win, Draw, Lose, Points, Games)
1 North West (1, 1, 0, 0, 2,9.0)
2 Mpumalanga (1, 1, 0, 0, 2,8.0)
3 KwaZulu-Natal (1, 1, 0, 0, 2,6.5)
4 Eastern Province (1, 0, 0, 1, 0,5.5)
5 Boland (1, 0, 0, 1, 0,4.0)
6 Free State & Northern Cape (1, 0, 0, 1, 0,3.0)
