Ekurhuleni takes control at Fish River
Ekurhuleni edged to the top of the A-Section standings at the SA Country Districts Tournament in the Eastern Cape, while Southern Cape strengthened their bid for B-Section promotion at the Fish River Sun Country Club on Wednesday.
Although North West dominated the A-Section for the first two days, a commanding performance from Ekurhuleni helped the side to replace the defending champions in pole position.
The side lost just one game in the foursomes, and handed Free State the ultimate hiding in the singles with a clean sweep to win the match 11 – 1.
Jason Thalrose and Chris Zietsman both won 6 & 4, while Teagan Moore defeated Rian Swanepoel 6 & 5 and Burt Gildenhuys beat Jurgens Dietrichsen 4 & 3.
Donovan Grobler, Adolf van der Merwe and Stefan Cronje scored 1-up victories and Brendan Flynn claimed a 2 & 1 result against Almero Theron.
Boland was equally impressive against Mpumalanga, winning their clash 8.5 – 3.5.
The Cape side claimed a 2.5 – 1.5 lead in the foursomes and extended their rule in the singles.
Martin Mitchell, JF Conradie, Peter Willemse, Riaan Gerber and Anton Pieters served up the victories, while Henri van der Vaart and Meyer Pauw contributed half points each.
Donovan de Vries claimed Mpumalanga’s third point with a 1-up win against Jaco Spies.
Although Ekurhuleni and Boland are tied on four points each, Ekurhuleni has the edge in game points with 18 to Boland’s 15.
The B-Section battle for supremacy between Southern Cape and Border still rages after both teams tied on six points. However, the Garden Route side edged ahead with games points after a 7.5 – 4.5 result against Northern Cape.
Southern Cape lost two games and halved another in the foursomes, but Marius de Lange and Stephen Murray took care of the gap in the singles. William Malgas, Heinrich Freylinck, Henk Geldenhuys and Daniel Reuben ensured the victory.
Border held off Eastern Province in a fierce battle for hard-fought for 6.5 – 5.5 victory.
The side also carried a .5 – 2.5 deficit into the singles, but Charl Stotter, Rikus Smit, Conrad Gordon-Grant, Fellow Mgantweni and Abie Simon stepped up to secure the side’s third successive victory.
Border has 22 games points, and lag just four points behind the log leaders.
Meanwhile KwaZulu-Natal moved into third in the standings after handing Limpopo a 10 – 2 drubbing.
A-SECTION RESULTS – Click Here
A-SECTION LOG – Click Here
B-SECTION RESULTS – Click Here
B-SECTION LOG – Click Here
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.