NELSPRUIT (17 May 2015) – North West will enjoy a well-deserved bye on Thursday after three successive A-Section victories at this year’s SA Country Districts, while frontrunners KwaZulu-Natal continued to blaze a trail in the B-Section battle for promotion at Nelspruit Golf Club on Thursday.
A-SECTION
North West mowed down Ekurhuleni in round one, hammered Boland on day two and added Free State to their growing list of conquests on day 3.
North West led their neighbours 3 – 1 after the Foursomes and Tian Maree, David-Louis Nortje, Slade Pickering, Albert Britz and Naithen Moore racked in the points in the Singles to secure an 8 – 4 victory for the team.
Franco Froneman, Almero Theron and Jacques Schutte put the points on the board for Free State.
Ekurhuleni – coming into the third round after a first round loss and a bye on Tuesday – were looking for a fast start, but Boland was having none of that.
The Cape side won three of the four games in the Foursomes, forcing Ekurhuleni to go for broke in the Singles.
Marco Di Bucci, Lawrence Joubert, Sean Olfsen and Burt and Brandon Gildenhuys reeled in five crucial points of Ekurhuleni, but Bolanders Coenraad Swanepoel, Dylan Jacobs and Christian Basson rallied to force the match into a 6-all draw.
With two rounds to play, North West is in an enviable position.
The team has six points in hand, a three point lead over Boland and one match remaining against defending champions Mpumalanga on Friday.
Manager Leon Beval says the team will come guns blazing for the final match, irrespective of the outcome between the Mpumalanga vs Ekurhuleni skirmish on Thursday.
“There will be a lot of pride at stake for Mpumalanga and they won’t go down without a fight, so if we want to win this and finish the week undefeated, we need to take the battle to them on Friday,” Beval said.
B-SECTION
KwaZulu-Natal was all business as they extended their dominance in this year’s inter-provincial with a 9 – 3 victory over Southern Cape.
The two teams were tied going into the Singles, but KwaZulu-Natal nearly scored a clean sweep in the Singles, with only Sean Baker going down 2 & 1 after a closely-fought tussle against Lukas Steyn.
Derek Scullard opened the floodgates when he defeated Werner Welgemoed 7 & 5 and Louis Albertse followed with a 5 & 4 win over Marius de Lange. Johan Pienaar, Ryno Crous, Jens Hillerman, Corne van Deventer and Combrinck Smit piled on the rest of the points.
The coastal side top the log with six points and hold a two point lead over Northern Cape and Border.
Northern Cape had a chance to grab a share of pole position, but Limpopo denied them the window of opportunity when they rallied to tie Northern Cape 6-all.
Border beat neighbours Eastern Province 8 – 4, but Northern Cape held on to second in the standings with 21 games points to Border’s 19.
KwaZulu-Natal will face Northern Cape on Thursday, Border goes up against Southern Cape and Limpopo has a fourth round date with Eastern Province.
ROUND THREE A-SECTION RESULTS
Free State 4 vs North West 8
Foursomes:
Muller / Froneman beat Schoenfeld / Maree 1Up;
Nel / Theron lost to de Jager / Nortje 4 & 3;
Schutte / Swartz lost to Britz / Krugel 5 & 4;
Erasmus / Fourie lost to Pickering / Moore 1Down;
Singles:
Franco Froneman beat Marco Schoenfeld 4 & 3;
Ge-Rico Muller lost to Tiaan Maree 4 & 2;
Adriaan Sarel Nel lost to David-Louis Nortje 6 & 5;
Almero Theron beat Johan Krugel 3 & 1;
Jacques Schutte beat Zabastian de Jager 4 & 3;
Pieter Swartz lost to Slade Pickering 7 & 5;
Lourens Erasmus lost to Albert Britz 2Down;
Josef Fourie lost to Naithen Moore 8 & 6;
Ekurhuleni 6 vs Boland 6
Foursomes:
De Abreu / Di Bucci lost to Swanepoel / Botha 4 & 3;
Joubert / Gildenhuys lost to Loubser / Conradie 4 & 2;
Olfsen / Gildenhuys beat Rooi / Jacobs 3 & 1;
Hulme / Haasbroek lost to Pieters / Basson 2 & 1;
Singles:
Marco Di Bucci beat Lauritz Loubser 2 & 1;
Dino De Abreu lost to Coenraad Swanepoel 4 & 2;
Brandon Gildenhuys beat J F Conradie 4 & 3;
Lawrence Joubert beat Anton Pieters 1Up;
Burt Gildenhuys beat Cedric Rooi 2 & 1;
Sean Olfsen beat W.P. Botha 1Up;
Andrew Haasbroek lost to Dylon Jacobs 4 & 3;
Stefan Hulme lost to Christian Basson 1Down;
A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 North West (3, 3, 0, 0, 6, 27.0)
2 Boland (3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 18.0)
3 Mpumalanga (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 12.0)
4 Ekurhuleni (2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 7.0)
5 Free State (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 8.0)
ROUND THREE B-SECTION RESULTS
Kwazulu-Natal 9 vs Southern Cape 3
Foursomes:
Scullard / Pienaar lost to Faber / Barnard 5 & 3;
Hillerman / Crous lost to Steyn / Norgarb 5 & 4;
Baker / van Deventer beat Welgemoed / Human 3 & 2;
Albertse / Smit beat de Lange / Geldenhuys 5 & 4;
Singles:
Johan Pienaar beat James Faber 3 & 2;
Ryno Crous beat Stafie Barnard 3 & 2;
Sean Baker lost to Lukas Cornelius Steyn 2 & 1;
Jens Hillerman beat Hans-Jurie Human 3 & 2;
Corne van Deventer beat Henk Geldenhuys 4 & 3;
Derek Scullard beat Werner Welgemoed 7 & 5;
Combrinck Smit beat Ian Norgarb 3 & 2;
Louis Albertse beat Marius de Lange 5 & 4;
Limpopo 6 vs Northern Cape 6
Foursomes:
Van Baalen / Hawken lost to Van Zyl / Kruis 1Down;
Wiggill / Van der Walt lost to Jacobs / Marais 2 & 1;
Chandler / Mackays lost to Kori / Hugo 7 & 6;
Putter / Olley beat van der Walt / Kruger 3 & 1;
Singles:
Antony Hawken beat Gideon Kruis 2 & 1;
Conrad van Baalen beat Darren Van Zyl 2Up;
David Wiggill lost to Pieter Marais 1Down;
Jay Van der Walt beat Nico (Jnr) Jacobs 1Up;
Edwin Mackays beat Stephanus Christiaan Hugo 3 & 1;
Shaun Chandler lost to Andries Kori 2 & 1;
Franco Putter lost to NJ van der Walt 3 & 2;
Vincent Olley beat Daniel Kruger 4 & 3;
Border 8 vs Eastern Province 4
Foursomes:
Scharneck / Ludick beat van der Bank / Manuel 2 & 1;
Thomas / Stotter beat Preston / Olivier 7 & 6;
Jonas / Ngantweni beat Burger / Ludick 2 & 1;
Nel / du Preez beat Qunta / Manuel 7 & 5;
Singles:
Fellow Ngantweni beat Anthony Preston 1Up;
Charl Stotter lost to Tiaan van der Bank 3 & 2;
Jarred Scharneck lost to Rhalf Manuel 1Down;
Ben Jonas beat Johnny Ludick 1Up;
Ian Thomas lost to Gregory Manuel 1Down;
Niel du Preez beat Eddie Qunta 5 & 3;
Pieter Nel lost to Attie Burger 2 & 1;
Patrick Ludick beat Moolman Olivier 3 & 2
B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Kwazulu-Natal (3, 3, 0, 0, 6, 29.0)
2 Northern Cape (3, 1, 2, 0, 4, 21.0)
3 Border (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 19.0)
4 Southern Cape (3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 17.0)
5 Limpopo (3, 0, 1, 2, 1, 12.5)
6 Eastern Province (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 9.5)
