Boland banks promotion at SA Mid-Am IPT
Boland blew Mpumalanga out of the water in their final round skirmish to bank promotion to the A-Section for next season at the South African Mid-Amateur Inter-Provincial Championship at Rustenburg Golf Club on Friday.
Boland captain Jaco Spies and rest of his charges could barely contain their excitement as they watched rookie Andre Ficks close out the final game against RFJ Nel at the 18th hole.
Ficks’ 1-up victory handed Boland a 9.5 – 2.5 win over Mpumalanga that not only sealed their position at the top of the log, but put a huge exclamation mark behind a worthy promotion for the side.
“We finished the week without any losses and that speaks volumes about to the incredible spirit of this team,” said Spies. “The team was announced pretty late, so we only had one meeting where the guys got to know each other a little and got the team spirit going. And that team spirit carried us all the way to the finish line.”
Boland got off the mark against Mpumalanga with a 2.5 – 1.5 lead in the foursomes.
The skipper’s brother Philip, Paul Baatjies, Ferdi van der Merwe, Louis Moolman and siblings Anton and Robert Oosthuizen rode the momentum to a close clean sweep in the singles. Mpumalanga’s Chris Zietsman scored Mpumalanga’s lone point when he took out the captain 5 & 4.
“There were no superstars on this team,” said Spies. “Every guy was committed, they stuck it out in tough times and they backed each other whenever someone ran into trouble. Today I went down pretty early, but seven other guys had my back.
“We all want to congratulate Andre on a great debut. Andre was 3-down in his game, but he rallied like a demon to win 2 & 1 to give us the draw against Free State and thanks to him, we are celebrating an unbeaten week.
“The team also wants to thank our manager Charl de Villiers and everyone at Boland Golf Union for the incredible support, from the kit to the logistics to the messages of encouragement. We are incredibly proud to bring the trophy home and I hope we can inspire all the other teams back home with this performance.”
Southern Cape’s Nicholas Mitchell shared the Most Valued Player’s honours with Zietsman from Mpumalanga. The duo finished the week on 11 points, with five victories in the foursomes a piece and a full house in the singles.
Anton Oosthuizen took sole third with 10 points, while Free State pair Ivan and Roedo du Plessis shared fourth on 9.5 points.
B-SECTION RESULTS ROUND 5
Boland 9.5 vs Mpumalanga 2.5
Free State 8 vs Limpopo 4
Southern Cape 10.5 vs Border 1.5
B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Boland (6, 5, 1, 0, 11, 49.5)
2 Mpumalanga (6, 5, 0, 1, 10, 47)
3 Free State (6, 3, 2, 1, 8, 37)
4 Southern Cape (6, 3, 0, 3, 6, 42.5)
5 Northern Cape (6, 1, 1, 4, 3, 32.5)
6 Limpopo (6, 1, 0, 5, 2, 23)
7 Border (6, 1, 0, 5, 2, 20.5)
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.