KZN and EP push the boat out in Buffalo City
EAST LONDON, 16 October 2015 – KwaZulu-Natal celebrated their third South African Mid-Amateur Inter-Provincial Championship victory with an undefeated performance at East London Golf Club, while Eastern Province landed promotion in spectacular style on Friday.
A-SECTION
It was touch and go in their final clash against Western Province, but KZN team manager Neil Campion’s warriors threw everything they had left into the final skirmish and stayed the course to triumph 6.5 – 5.5.
“This is an incredible celebration for the whole squad,” said an elated Campion.
“We never took anything for granted. The players worked exceptionally hard for this final win, right down to the last putt in the last game out to pull this through.
“This morning, we squared the Foursomes with Western Province and every man on the team knew we had to dig deep to turn things around.”
Ludwig Schreuder downed Clive Lazarus 5 & 4 to take first blood for Province, but skipper Lyall McNeill levelled the scores when he downed Weyers Janse van Rensburg 4 & 3.
Former KZN player Elton James knocked out David Brown 3 & 2 to put Province temporarily ahead, but Dale Burraston beat Stefan Blommeart 2 & 1 to square the match and Bradley Davison gained control for KZN when he downed Gerlou Roux 2 & 1.
“It came down to the last three games and I can tell that all six players left nothing out on the course,” Campion said.
KwaZulu-Natal’s Keith Forde halved against Riaan Lewis, team mate Corne van Deventer squared his game with Greg Sheard and Murray Gilson claimed the final half point for KZN against Cameron Johnston.
“Lyall, Dale and Bradley gave us that slender one point cushion we needed and Dale, Stefan and Bradley fought like demons to get us the win,” Campion said.
“Like I’ve said all week, this is a team that bats from one to eight; there are no superstars. The whole team contributed and this is there moment to shine.”
McNeill said every man in the squad could fairly share in this triumph.
“I am incredibly proud of our team, for their complete commitment, their devotion to each other and their fantastic team spirit,” he said.
“We are all great mates and that united us and helped everyone to grind through the hard times and pull off an incredible victory for us.”
Three-time champions Central Gauteng whipped Ekurhuleni 7.5 – 4.5, but it was too little, too late and North West handed Gauteng North the wooden spoon with a 6.5 – 5.5 victory.
B-SECTION
Eastern Province demolished Free State 10 – 1 and mowed down Mpumalanga 9 – 3 to seal their promotion with an unbeaten performance in Buffalo City.
The Bay-side celebrated a clean sweep in the Foursomes against both teams and David Konzani – playing at number one – defeated Gino De Crescenzo from Free State 7 & 6 and Mpumalanga’s Eddie Daniel 2 & 1 to set the tone for the Singles.
Mzuyanda Zingela, Johan Louis Vorster and Ryno Ferreira piled on the points against both sides.
Johnny Ludick beat Free State’s Desmond van Viegen 2-up and halved against Steve Smit from Free State, while Christian Pienaar downed Nico Reyneke from Mpumalanga 1-up.
Attie Burger beat Roedu du Plessis 3 & 1 to seal the win against Free State and Pienaar halved against Brian Naidoo for the win against Mpumalanga.
Southern Cape took an impressive 8 – 4 victory against Boland, but Border spoiled their chances of catching Eastern Province with a 6-all draw and the Garden Route side had to settle for second in the standings.
The local heroes also downed Boland 6.5 – 5.5 to finish in third.
Mpumalanga downed Free State 7.5 – 4.5 in the final B-Section match to finish fifth behind Boland and Limpopo downed Northern Cape 8 – 4 to avoid the bottom of the log.
A-SECTION RESULT
KwaZulu-Natal 6.5 vs Western Province 5.5
North West 6.5 vs Gauteng North 5.5
Central Gauteng 7.5 vs Ekurhuleni 4.5
A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 KwaZulu-Natal (5, 5, 0, 0, 10, 39.0)
2 Central Gauteng (5, 4, 0, 1, 8, 38.0)
3 Western Province (5, 3, 0, 2, 6, 33.5)
4 Ekurhuleni (5, 1, 1, 3, 3, 22.5)
5 North West (5, 1, 1, 3, 3, 22.0)
6 Gauteng North (5, 0, 0, 5, 0, 25.0)
B-SECTION RESULTS
Boland 4 vs Southern Cape 8
Southern Cape 6 vs Border 6
Boland 5.5 vs Border 6.5
Eastern Province 9.0 vs Mpumalanga 3.0
Mpumalanga 7.5 vs Free State 4.5
Eastern Province 11.0 vs Free State 1.0
Limpopo 8 vs Northern Cape 4
B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Eastern Province (7, 7, 0, 0, 14, 64.0)
2 Southern Cape (7, 5, 1, 1, 11, 54.5)
3 Border (7, 4, 2, 1, 10, 42.5)
4 Boland (7, 3, 1, 3, 7, 43.5)
5 Mpumalanga (7, 3, 1, 3, 7, 38.5)
6 Free State (7, 2, 1, 4, 5, 33.0)
7 Limpopo (7, 1, 0, 6, 2, 35.0)
8 Northern Cape (7, 0, 0, 7, 0, 25.0)
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.
Lali Stander
