Boland and Border rule at SA Country Districts

While Boland beat Ekurhuleni to savoured A-Section victory in the South African Country Districts Tournament, Border popped the corks on a triumphant promotion campaign at the Fish River Sun Country Club on Friday.

Ekurhuleni crumbled under a vicious singles assault and went down 4 – 8 to Boland, while Border defeated Southern Cape 7 – 5 to earn their way into the A-Section of next year’s championship.

“Last year we arrived at the tournament, expecting to be playing in the A-Section, but due to another team’s withdrawal, we were drawn in the B-Section and had to fight for promotion,” said Boland manager, Servaas de Kock.

“So, to claim the title a year later is a dream come true for everyone at Boland Golf Union.

“We worked exceptionally hard for this win, right down to the last game in the last match. We never took anything for granted. Our team bats from one to eight; there are no superstars, the whole team contributed and that’s why we pulled it through.”

Boland and Ekurhuleni were tied 2-all after the foursomes, and Ekurhuleni led 4 -3 after the first three singles before De Kock’s charges tightened the screws.

Peter Willemse turned the tide when he beat Teagan Moore 1-up and Riaan Gerber put Boland in the lead when he defeated Brendan Flynn 3 & 2.

Anton Pieters stretched the lead to 6 – 4 with a 2 & 1 result against Donovan Grobler, and Jaco Spies drove home the advantage when he thumped Jason Thalrose 7 & 6. Meyer Pauw drove home the victory when he downed Burt Gildenhuys 6 & 5.

Not to be outdone, North West denied Ekurhuleni the runner-up spot after whipping Mpumalanga 8.5 – 3.5 to vault into second in the final standings with six points.

Mpumalanga finished in fourth on 2 points, ensuring the wooden spoon went to Free State.

Meanwhile Hartland Wilson and his team will celebrate their hard-fought promotion for days to come.

“I am incredibly proud of our team, for their complete commitment, their selfless devotion to the team and each other and for sticking it out through the hard times to pull off an incredible victory for us here at home,” the Border manager said.

“Every win in this competition has been special, and every loss has been an inspiration to do better and it took a team effort to pull it off.”

Border trailed 1 – 3 going into the singles, but Charl Stotter, Basil Frewen, Jaco Marais, Hansie Diedericks, Rikus Smit and Conrad Gordon-Grant raked in six straight victories in the singles to push Southern Cape into a corner.

Although Daniel Gouws battled bravely to beat Abie Simons 4 & 3 and Henk Geldenhuys won the last game against Fellow Ngantweni 2 & 1, it was all too little, too late for the Garden Route boys.

In the other matches, KwaZulu-Natal secured second place in the final standings with a 7.5 – 4.5 result against Northern Cape, while Limpopo downed Western Province 6.5 – 5.5.

A-SECTION FINAL RESULT – Click Here

FINAL A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Boland (4 – 4 – 0 – 0 – 8 – 33.0)
2 North West (4 – 3 – 0 – 1 – 6 – 31.0)
3 Ekurhuleni (4 – 2 – 0 – 2 – 4 – 27.5)
4 Mpumalanga (4 – 1 – 0 – 3 – 2 – 19.5)
5 Free State (4 – 0 – 0 – 4 – 0 – 9.0)

B-SECTION FINAL RESULT – Click Here

FINAL B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Border (5 – 5 – 0 – 0 – 10 – 37.5)
2 KwaZulu-Natal (5 – 3 – 0 – 2 – 6 – 36.5)
3 Southern Cape (5 – 3 – 0 – 2 – 6 – 34.0)
4 Eastern Province (5 – 2 – 0 – 3 – 4 – 29.0)
5 Northern Cape (5 – 1 – 0 – 4 – 2 – 25.0)
6 Limpopo (5 – 1 – 0 – 4 – 2 – 18.0)

PHOTO – SA Country Districts A-Section champions Boland; credit Deon Smit / Immanuel Photography.
Front, left to right: Peter Willemse, Servaas de Kock (manager), Jaco Spies, Johan Germishuys (assistant manager), Riaan Gerber.
Back, left to right: Martin Mitchell, Kosie Conradie, Meyer Pauw, Henri van Waart, Anton Pieters.

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

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