Big battles looming at SA Junior IPT
After three rounds at this year’s South African Junior Inter-Provincial, the A-Division could go down to the wire in a three-way battle between defending champions Gauteng, hosts Western Province and dark horse Central Gauteng, while KwaZulu-Natal took yet another step towards promotion by defeating Southern Cape in the B-Division on Wednesday.
Gauteng North survived a titanic battle against Ekurhuleni to triumph, thanks to the extra point the side won in the foursomes and a half point from Keegan de Lange in the singles that gave side the necessary edge to win 7 – 5.
Ekuhurhuleni’s Dylan Mostert and Ruhan van Djik beat Adriel Poonan and Juan-Pierre Cooper 5 & 4 in the foursomes, and again in the singles to put pressure on the 2012 champions and MJ Viljoen defeated Ruan Conradie 2 & 1 to give the side a two point lead.
But Stefan Wears-Taylor, Nicholaus Frade and Albert Venter turned the for Gauteng North tide with three straight victories before De Lange halved against Kyle McClatchie and Rosswell Sinclair added the seventh point with a 1-up result against Jason Froneman.
The match between Central Gauteng and Eastern Province was another tightly fought contest.
Central led the foursomes 2.5 – 1.5 but lost the first two singles against Lukas Pretorius and R N Peters.
Dylan Naidoo beat Donavan Tam 5 & 4 to level matters and MH Steyn took the advantage back for Central with a 7 & 5 win over Nyameko Heshu.
EP hit the front again when Rupert Kaminski lost to Wian Van Aswegen 2 & 1, but three straight victories from Dean Martin, David Meyers and Darin De Smidt handed Central a 7 – 5 win.
Province kept their spot at the top of the log after handing Limpopo a 10 – 2 drubbing.
The 2011 champions won the foursomes 2.5 – 1.5, and were nearly unbeaten in the singles. Cameron Nesmith halved with Michael Sherriff, while Noel Anderson, Hayden Garcia, Sean Bradley, Robert Bougas, Franco van Zyl, Altin van der Merwe and Hendrik du Plessis all added points to the tally.
In the B-Division, KwaZulu-Natal strengthened their promotion bid by narrowly beating first round log leaders Southern Cape 6.5 – 5.5
The side lost just one game in the foursomes, and was 4-1 up after Luke Mayo defeated Johan Oosthuizen 2 & 1. But Cyril Botha and Franklin Manchest, who won 6 & 4 and 8 & 6 respectively, gave Southern Cape a glimmer of hope.
However, Ben Botha beat Mentz Germishuis 4 & 3 and Matt Saulez defeated Cameron Moralee 4 & 3 to put KZN back in business. Anuerin Gounden and Garen Niemand halved and KZN sealed the win after Jack Duthie conceded to Gregory McKay.
The boys in black are level with North West on seven points, but edged ahead to top the B-Division log by five game points.
It was a great day at the office for North West, though.
The side handed Free State & Northern Cape 9 – 3 drubbing and combined well to defeat Mpumalanga 8.5 – 3.5, with Tiaan Maree, Pieter Kruger, Philip Niemand, Ruan Prigge and Riaan Swart winning their singles against both opposing teams.
Boland manager Alwyn Zaayman expects Southern Cape to come out firing on all cylinders in their matches against his charges and the Free State & Northern Cape on Thursday.
“We are bound to be in for a tough day at the office, because Southern Cape will be smarting after their loss to KwaZulu-Natal and we are not underestimating Free State either,” Zaayman said. “They proved that they are spoiling for a good fight after beating Mpumalanga 6.5 – 5.5.
“It’s definitely going to get interesting against both teams, but my juniors are primed and ready.”
A-DIVISION: DAY THREE RESULTS
Central Gauteng Golf Union 7.5 vs Eastern Province Golf Union 4.5
Limpopo Golf Union 2.0 vs Western Province Golf Union 10.0
Gauteng North Golf Union 7.0 vs Ekurhuleni Golf Union 5.0
A-DIVISION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Western Province Golf Union (3, 3, 0, 0, 5, 25.5)
2 Central Gauteng Golf Union (3, 2, 1, 0, 5, 19)
3 Gauteng North Golf Union (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 19)
4 Ekurhuleni Golf Union (3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 17.5)
5 Eastern Province Golf Union (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 13.5)
6 Limpopo Golf Union (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 8.5)
B-DIVISION: DAY THREE RESULTS
KwaZulu Natal Golf Union 6.5 vs Southern Cape Golf Union 5.5
North West Golf Union 8.5 vs Mpumalanga Golf Union 3.5
North West Golf Union 9.0 vs Free State & Northern Cape 3.0
Mpumalanga Golf Union 5.5 vs Free State & Northern Cape 6.5
B-DIVISION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 KwaZulu Natal Golf Union (5, 3, 1, 1, 7, 35.0)
2 North West Golf Union (4, 3, 1, 0, 7, 30.0)
T3 Southern Cape Golf Union (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 23.0)
T3 Border Golf Union (4, 2, 0, 2, 4, 23.0)
5 Boland Golf Union (3, 2, 0, 1, 4, 21.5)
6 Free State & Northern Cape (4, 1, 0, 3, 2, 17.5)
7 Mpumalanga Golf Union (5, 0, 0, 5, 0, 18.0)