Another day, another victory for Mpumalanga

Looking to reverse their 2015 relegation in this year’s INDWE SA Senior Amateur Inter-Provincial, Mpumalanga stayed on the winning path in the B-Division with more success on day three at Killarney Country Club.

Last year’s wooden spoon recipients defeated Boland 7.5 – 4.5 in round one, whipped Limpopo 9.5 – 2.5 in the second round and handed Northern Cape an 8.5 – 3.5 drubbing on Thursday.

Having accumulated 3.5 points in the foursomes, Kobus Clarence, Gavin Light, Andre Basson, Steve Smit and Steve Cullen stretched Mpumalanga’s lead to 8.5 in the singles.

Light defeated Nico Ross 4 & 2, Basson won 2-up against Anton Boyce, while Clarence, Smit and Cullen all won 2 & 1.

Keith Brown, Frans Smit and Conrad de Beer collected the three points for Limpopo.

“It has been a great week for us thus far, but we are not going to let up,” said Mpumalanga manager Francis Themane.

“We have six points in hand, but Northern Cape or Boland could win both their matches on Friday, which just means that we have to take the fight to Free State. It’s down to the wire for us and we are taking nothing for granted. We are coming out armed for battle.”

Meanwhile Free State rallied after losses to Northern Cape and Boland to beat Limpopo 7 – 5.

Free State carried a 3 – 1 lead into the singles. Johan Groenewald thumped Giel van Wyk 6 & 5 and Ludwig Albutt whipped Fanus van Niekerk 5 & 4 to give Free State a four point advantage.

Len Olley, Attie Buitendag and Malebana Pataki won their games to give Limpopo a fighting chance, but Dirk Krieger defeated Jose Alfonso 3 & 2 to push Free State to a 6 – 4 lead.

Butch Lombard and Johan Ungerer halved against Hennie Michau and Phil Mashakane respectively to clinch the victory for Free State.

Mpumalanga will face the resurgent Free State team, while Northern Cape, Limpopo and Boland goes head-to-head in Friday’s final round.

Super Seniors

Free State and North West were in impressive form with both teams taking 5 – 1 victories in the Super Seniors section.

Callie Wiesner and Geoff Taylor won their foursomes game 5 & 4 against Bennie Hattingh and Wim Reyneke to put the first points on the board for Free State, but Piet Bronkhorst and Dirk Visagie levelled the score when they defeated Joseph beat Bleki and Pierre Grobler 1-up.

However, Wiesner won his singles game against Reyneke 5 & 4 and Taylor, Grobler and Bleki followed suit to secure the victory for Free State.

North West won both their foursomes, with Lucas Lebeko (3 & 2), Shadrack Molefe (2-up) and Basil King (3/2) piling on the points in the singles. Johnson Madikane from Eastern Province averted a clean sweep by beating Pierre Lotter 1-up.

North West and Free State both have four points, but North West edged into the top spot in the standings with a 2.5 games points lead on 11 games points.

No doubt the final round will produce an epic battle for supremacy when the two teams face off in a three-way draw with Northern Cape, while Limpopo and Eastern Province tackle one another in the final round.

ROUND THREE RESULTS – Seniors
Mpumalanga 8.5 vs Northern Cape 3.5
Free State 7 vs Limpopo 5

SENIORS B DIVISION LOG
(Position, Union, Played, Won, Draw, Loss, Points, Games Points)
1 Mpumalanga (3, 3, 0, 0, 6, 25.5)
2 Free State (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 16.0)
3 Northern Cape (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 11.5)
3 Boland (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 11.5)
5 Limpopo (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 7.5)

ROUND THREE RESULTS – Seniors
Free State SS 5 vs Limpopo 1
North West SS vs Eastern Province 1

SENIORS B DIVISION LOG
(Position, Union, Played, Won, Draw, Loss, Points, Games Points)
1 North West SS (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 11.0)
2 Free State SS (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 9.5)
3 Eastern Province SS (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 7.5)
4 Limpopo SS (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 4.5)
5 Northern Cape SS (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 3.5)

Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.

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