JOHANNESBURG, 16 April 2013 – Central Gauteng scored a clean sweep to record their eighth title in the 25th INDWE SA Senior Amateur Inter-Provincial in the last decade, while the Western Province claimed a historic hat trick the Super Senior Division at Euphoria Golf Estate.
Central Gauteng won the country’s largest national seniors team competition in 2002 and 2003 and dominated the event from 2005 to 2010 after KwaZulu-Natal collected the title in 2004.
Their winning run was halted by the Western Province, who claimed both the Senior and Super Seniors titles at Parys Golf Club in 2011.
Both Province sides retained their championship titles in Durban last year, marking the first time that any provincial side has won both titles in consecutive years.
But this year, a strong Central Gauteng side denied Western Province the chance to make it three-in-a-row in Limpopo after the team defeated all seven teams campaigning in the Seniors A-Division to collect the full 14 points on offer and the title again on Thursday.
From start to finish, Stuart Till, Richard Bruyns, David Stratton, Gavin van Aswegen, Schalk Naude, Jock Wellington and Lawrence Franklin delivered a commanding performance at the tricky par-72 championship layout in the Waterberg mountain range, which was designed by former world number one Annika Sorenstam.
Central Gauteng began their winning run with a 9-3 result in the first round against KwaZulu-Natal and in the second round, after claiming a slender 6.5 – 5.5 win over defending champions Western Province, put Mpumalanga away 9-3.
The side underlined their supremacy in the competition by thrashing Ekurhuleni 10-2 and scoring an 8.5 – 3.5 victory over Eastern Province in the third round. On the final day, Central Gauteng downed neighbours Gauteng North 7.5 – 4.5 and overpowered Border 11-1 to tie up their victory.
Central’s Till was named the Most Valuable Player in the Seniors A-Division on 13 points after winning seven of his singles matches and six of his foursomes alongside Hayward.
Francois le Roux from the Western Province was second with 12.5 points after collecting 5.5 points in the foursomes and winning seven singles.
The champions finished three points ahead of Province, who held 11 points and 58 game points against Central’s 60.5.
Wellington said the difference was on the greens.
“I think most of the teams could manage the tricky layout of the course at Euphoria,” Wellington said. “The greens were something else, though, They were in excellent condition, but they ran a lot faster than what most players are used to. I think this is where we as a team held the advantage, because we were able to adapt to the speed quickly and that helped us to close our matches.”
In the Super Series A-Division, Herman September, Ivan Palframan, Jonathan Hobday and Hans Giesen combined for the Western Province’s third successive victory in the tournament, winning all five their games for a winning total of 10 points.
Ekurhuleni finished in second on eight points, Gauteng North third on four points and Central Gauteng came in at fourth place with three points.
Boland’s Francois Bruwer earned the bragging rights as the Most Valuable Player with five foursomes victories and three and a half scalps in the singles to finish a point ahead of Giesen, September and Vaughan Sammons from Ekurhuleni.
In the B-Division competitions at Korocreek Golf Estate, the North West province celebrated a double victory in the Seniors and Super Series B-Division, earning both teams A-Division promotion for next year’s event, sponsored by Indwe Risk Services.
The North West Seniors tied Boland on eight points but claimed the honours on game points, with 39.5 games won against the 37 victories from Boland.
Free State & Northern Cape side took third ahead of Southern Cape. Both players finished with four points, but the Free State side edged ahead with 37.5 games against the 33.5 games won by Southern Cape.
The North West Super Seniors earned an outright victory on nine points, beating Mpumalanga and Boland by two for the title. The runners-up shared 17.5 games, but Mpumalanga edged into second on a count out.
All divisions of this year’s INDWE SA Senior Amateur Inter-Provincial were played to the same format as the other national Inter-Provincials, i.e. foursomes and singles over four rounds of competition.
