MIDDELBURG (15 October 2014) – The teams hugging the bottom of the A-Section log after two days at the South African Mid-Amateur Inter-Provincial rallied to shake things up at Middelburg Golf Club on Wednesday, but no-one shifted B-Section leaders Mpumalanga on day three.
A-SECTION
After a 2-all draw in the Foursomes, Ekurhuleni delivered a spirited charge to storm to a 7.5 – 4.5 victory against KwaZulu-Natal.
Evan Mackenzie (2&1), Adolf van der Merwe (5&4) and Jaco Rall (2&1) put Ekurhuleni ahead, while Hugo Delport, Rowan du Preez and Jan Delport kept up the pressure to all take 1-up victories and Brian Peterson halved with Brendan Adlam.
Meanwhile Central Gauteng held Eastern Province to a 6.5 – 5.5 victory and Western Province beat North West by the same narrow margin.
Eastern Province took a 3-1 lead in the Foursomes, but failed to answer a solid attack from Central Gauteng in the Singles.
Leon de Lange (2&1), Grant Wood (1-up), Kevin Sharp (4&3), Sean Quigley (5&4) and Steve Williams (2&1) rallied for victories, while Neil Fusedale halved against David Konzani to tip the match in Central’s favour.
Western Province was two for two in the Foursomes against North West, but Ludwig Schreuder, Elvin Nel and Gerlou Roux took the defending champions’ tally to five points.
Riaan Lewis and Daniel Jansen van Vuuren close the gap for North West, but Steven Rosenburg, Dirk van der Merwe and Cameron Johnston claimed the crucial halves to secure the win for Province.
Province tops the log on four points and 18.5 games points, but the side will have to come out guns blazing to keep the edge.
Ekurhuleni vaulted from last in the standings to a tie for second with Central Gauteng. The teams have four points each, and lag just half a games point behind the log leaders.
B-SECTION
At the end of the third round action, Mpumalanga still topped the log, but without having hit a shot.
While the host union enjoyed a bye, their eight point lead remained unchallenged, but Free State did make a significant move to second in the standings.
After handing Southern Cape a 7.5 – 4.5 drubbing and whipping Limpopo 8.5 – 3.5, Free State lag just two points behind the host union.
Marius Nel partnered Theuns Pieters to victory in both Foursomes and Josef Fourie combined with Johan van der Wath for victory against both teams, as well.
In the Singles, Pieters, Van der Wath, Fourie and Lourens Erasmus once again racked up the points with victories against both teams, while Ivan van der Merwe halved with James Faber from Southern Cape and squared his match against Malebana Pataki from Limpopo.
The Garden Route side didn’t waste time licking their wounds and retaliated with a 9.5 – 2.5 win against Limpopo.
Southern Cape and Gauteng North, who also had a bye, are tied with five points each, but Southern Cape has 30.5 games points against Gauteng North’s 23.
In the final game, Boland beat Border 7.5 – 4.5 and moved to fifth in the standings with four points.
A-Section Results
KwaZulu-Natal 4.5 vs Ekurhuleni 7.5
Eastern Province 5.5 vs Central Gauteng 6.5
Western Province 6.5 vs North West 5.5
A-Section Log
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Western Province (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 18.5)
T2 Ekurhuleni (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 18.0)
T2 Central Gauteng (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 18.0)
4 North West (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 18.5)
5 Eastern Province (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 18.0)
6 KwaZulu-Natal (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 17.0)
B-Section Results
Free State 7.5 vs Southern Cape 4.5
Southern Cape 9.5 vs Limpopo 2.5
Free State 8.5 vs Limpopo 3.5
Boland 7.5 vs Border 4.5
B-Section Log
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Mpumalanga (4, 4, 0, 0, 8, 31.5)
2 Free State (4, 3, 0, 1, 6, 25.5)
3 Southern Cape (5, 2, 1, 2, 5, 30.5)
4 Gauteng North (3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 23.0)
5 Boland (5, 2, 0, 3, 4, 31.5)
6 Border (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 13.5)
7 Limpopo (4, 0, 0, 4, 0, 12.5)
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.
Lali Stander
