Central, Province reach early stalemate at SA IPT
Central Gauteng gave it an almighty push to come from behind and win the last two matches against Western Province to square this morning’s final round foursomes at the South African Inter-Provincial.
Western Province skipper Werner Theart lamented the losses but said the real work lies ahead in the eight singles matches that will determine the result.
“The last match was a bit of a disappointment, but you have to hand it to Central,” said Theart.
“Haydn (Porteous) and Louis (Taylor) made birdie on 16, 17 and 18 to win 1-up to square the foursomes, but at least we’re not down. Two-all is still a pretty healthy position to be in, but it really does mean we will have to pull out all the stops this afternoon if we intend to lift the trophy.”
Central Gauteng manager Jock Wellington said the defending champions realise it’s going to get only tougher.
“The hard work really starts now,” he said. “A bit of a cushion would have been better, but I’ll take two-all over being down any day. But if we want to defend this title, we will have to shift it into high gear this afternoon.”
The frontrunners will do well to keep an eye on Boland, though.
The 2007 champions lagged just a couple of games behind at the start of the final round and got their foot in the door with a 3-1 lead over KwaZulu-Natal.
A solid performance this afternoon could give the 2008 champions the edge, and the title.
“If Central and Province draw or if the result is close and we can win by a reasonably big margin, say 8-3, we can still take this,” said SAGDB graduate Cedric Rooi, whose red-hot putter at the last three holes secured a 2-up victory and a crucial third point for Boland.
Playing partner Mark Mahoney, another SAGDB graduate, felt the side still had plenty to play for.
“In this format, you never get complacent,” said Mahoney. “We can’t waste time thinking or worrying about what’s happening between Province and Central. We have a very real chance of winning this year, if we produce the goods and that is what we will focus on.”
Meanwhile Southern Cape virtually sealed their promotion in this morning’s foursomes and will take a 2½ – 1½ final round lead over Ekurhuleni into the singles.
“We’ve done it, so now the boys can go out there and enjoy the course while the battle for second unfolds between Ekurhuleni and Eastern Province,” said Southern Cape manager John Mitchell.
“But I also know this team. Although the work is done, they will want to go out on a high, so they’ll probably fight for more victories in the singles. And then we’ll let the celebrations begin.”
For A-Section scores, click HERE
For B-Section scores, click HERE