Eastern Province hit back at SA IPT
Eastern Province claimed two vital victories in the battle for promotion at the 56th South African Inter-Provincial Championship, sponsored by Tempest, while KwaZulu-Natal stunned Mpumalanga on day two at the Fish River Sun Resort on Tuesday.
Smarting after their first round loss to North West, Eastern Province came out guns blazing. The side thrashed Limpopo 10.5 – 1.5 and handed Border an 8 – 4 drubbing.
Luke Jerling and Alan Lones won both foursomes 6 & 5 to the side on a winning course and the rest of the team stepped it up to secure a 3 – 1 lead over Border and a clean sweep against Limpopo.
Lones won his single 5 & 3 to get the momentum going and Andile Adam, Fezekile Kana, Dylan Germshuys, Sieg Human and Luke Jerling piled on the rest of the points against Limpopo.
Kana scored first blood against Border when he whipped their skipper Sean Coetzee 5 & 3. Human and Kyle de Beer – who had to step into the fold for Naldo Claassen after the first round – both halved their games and Adam, Lones and Germshuys took their tally to eight.
“We were gutted after the loss to North West and then we got the news that Naldo’s dad had passed away and he had to head home,” said EP manager Sieg Human.
“We decided at our team meeting to play for Naldo and we took everything we had to Limpopo and Border. All the guys really stepped up to the plate and it was fantastic to witness their determination when that brutal westerly wind showed up in the singles.
“Although we lost a couple of matches to Border, they were close fights and I am incredibly proud of their fighting spirit. We’ll take that same attitude out there against Free State tomorrow. We edged out KwaZulu-Natal by half a games point for the lead in the log and we need to try and extend that fragile lead.”
KwaZulu-Natal won three foursomes games and all but one of their singles against Mpumalanga.
“Malcolm Mitchell fought like a terrier to halve his game against Quintin Wilsnach,” said manager Ivan Curlewis. “I’m thrilled with the 10-5 – 1.5 result, but I won’t sleep easy until we get past their matches against North West and Border on Wednesday.
“We wanted a strong performance from the team over the first few days to put us in the running and they’ve come through magnificently. It’s great to have the confidence of the three victories, but tomorrow we will start with a clean slate. The matches against North West and the local favourites will be anything but easy and the guys need to regroup and start fresh tomorrow.”
Border, meanwhile, scored an impressive 9 – 3 win against Limpopo to get some points on the board.
The host union led the foursomes 3 – 1 and seasoned campaigner Ben Jonas kept them in the front when he defeated David Wiggill 4 & 3.
Lwazi Gqira whipped Limpopo number one Cameron Nesmith 4 & 3 to continue the bleeding and Nico Joubert, Sean Coetzee, Neil du Preez and Andre du Toit wrapped up their first victory.
Free State re-joins the action against Eastern Province on Wednesday, while Mpumalanga and Limpopo will have a third round bye.
B-SECTION RESULTS – ROUND TWO
Eastern Province 10.5 vs Limpopo 1.5
Limpopo 3 vs Border 9
Eastern Province 8 vs Border 4
Mpumalanga 1.5 vs KwaZulu-Natal 10.5
B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Eastern Province (4, 3, 0, 1, 6, 31.5)
2 KwaZulu-Natal (3, 3, 0, 0, 6, 31)
3 North West (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 16.5)
4 Border (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 13)
5 Free State (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 11.5)
6 Limpopo (4, 0, 0, 4, 0, 8.5)
7 Mpumalanga (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 8)
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.