STELLENBOSCH (11 April 2014) – Western Province revelled in a double celebration at the 26th INDWE SA Senior Amateur Inter-Provincial in Stellenbosch on Friday as both the Senior A and Super Senior A emerged triumphant at the De Zalze Winelands Golf Estate on Friday.
The Senior team collected their third title in the four years by holding off a spirited final round charge from defending champions Central Gauteng and Gauteng North, while the Super Senior side celebrated a record fourth successive victory with a convincing performance in the country’s largest senior amateur team championship.
SENIORS
Western Province and Central Gauteng were tied on 10 points each going into the final round, although the home favourites had a slight advantage of five game points. Gauteng North lagged just two points behind.
“Last year we were looking great to win, but we lost by one point because of our performance in the final round foursomes,” said skipper Tony Bailey.
“This year we aimed to win all our foursomes and to get to 6.5 points in all our matches as quickly as we could in the singles. We executed this to perfection in the first three rounds, but we knew were in for a battle in the final round.”
Province and Central were still neck-in-neck after a 2-all result in the foursomes, while Gauteng North also held the host union to a 2-all in their foursomes match.
Province took control in the singles, though, and beat Central Gauteng 7 – 5. They held on for a one point victory against Gauteng North (6.5 – 5.5.) and topped the final log with 14 points.
“It was very hot out there, but our guys stayed cool under the pressure,” Bailley said. “It was a very tightly-fought contest against both teams, and at times, it could have gone either way, but we were extremely determined to win.
“There were no heroes on this team and that made a world of difference. Everyone batted at number one.
If someone was beaten, someone else stepped up and this victory is a real celebration of team work.”
Southern Cape emerged victorious in the B-Section battle for promotion after two comprehensive final round victories at Erinvale.
Meanwhile the Garden Route side handed Boland a 9.5 – 2.5 drubbing and beat Free State by one point (6.5 – 5.5) to finish in the number one spot in the standings.
SUPER SENIORS
Earlier, Western Province roared to a 10 point victory in the Super Senior A-Division after beating Ekurhuleni 5 – 1 and Gauteng North 3.5 – 2.5.
Western Province skipper Ivan Palframan was understandably pleased with his team’s fourth victory.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the result,” said Palframan. “Every man on the team stood up to be counted, including our new guy, Mark Hair, who had a brilliant debut.
“We are so thankful to Indwe Risk Services for sponsoring this event, because it truly gives us over-60s a new lease on life and a purpose to play for. We train hard and we keep fit and it is simply fantastic to come away with our fourth victory.
“It gets harder every year, because the standard of Super Senior golf improves all the time and there were absolutely no gimmies this week. It was a tough championship, but we are delighted with the result.”
Boland took the Super Seniors B-Division honours with 10 points in the final standings after beating both Mpumalanga and Border 4 – 2.
SENIORS A DIVISION LOG
(Pos-Union-P-W-D-L-Pts-Games)
1 Western Province (7- 7- 0- 0- 14-62.0)
2 Central Gauteng (7- 6- 0- 1- 12-55.0)
3 KwaZulu-Natal (7- 4- 0- 3- 8-47.0)
4 Gauteng North (7- 4- 0- 3- 8-45.5)
5 Ekurhuleni (7- 3- 0- 4- 6-38.0)
6 Mpumalanga (7- 2- 0- 5- 4-31.0)
7 North West (7- 1- 1- 5- 3-30.0)
8 Eastern Province (7- 0- 1- 6- 1-27.5)
SUPER SENIORS A DIVISION LOG
(Pos-Union-P-W-D-L-Pts-Games)
1 Western Prov SS (5- 5- 0- 0- 10-23.0)
2 Central Gauteng SS (5- 2- 2- 1- 6-16.5)
3 Gauteng North SS (5- 2- 1- 2- 5-17.5)
4 Ekurhuleni SS (5- 2- 1- 2- 5-14.0)
5 Kwazulu Natal SS (5- 1- 0- 4- 2-10.0)
6 North West SS (5- 1- 0- 4- 2-9.0)
SENIORS B DIVISION LOG
(Pos-Union-P-W-D-L-Pts-Games)
1 Southern Cape (4- 4- 0- 0- 8-34.5)
2 Free State (4- 3- 0- 1- 6-27.0)
3 Limpopo (4- 1- 1- 2- 3-23.5)
4 Boland (4- 1- 0- 3- 2-17.5)
5 Northern Cape (4- 0- 1- 3- 1-17.5)
SUPER SENIORS B DIVISION LOG
(Pos-Union-P-W-D-L-Pts-Games)
1 Boland SS (5- 5- 0- 0- 10-22.0)
2 Border SS (5- 3- 0- 2- 6-18.5)
3 Free State SS (5- 3- 0- 2- 6-17.5)
4 Mpumalanga SS (5- 2- 1- 2- 5-17.0)
5 Northern Cape SS (5- 1- 1- 3- 3-9.5)
6 Eastern Province SS (5- 0- 0- 5- 0-5.5)
