First and second place finishes for Central Gauteng

Central Gauteng’s A and B teams finished tied first in the 20th annual International Teams Championship held at Maccauvlei Golf club over the weekend.

Both teams tied on 32 under par where the best three team player’s scores count for each of the four rounds. Central Gauteng A were declared winners on a a count out where the lowest “non-counting” player’s score for the final round determines the winner, in the case of a tie. In this case Central Gauteng A’s score was 73 and Central Gauteng B’s score was 74. It doesn’t get closer than that!!

The championship wasn’t without its drama as Central Gauteng B player, Steven Ferreira, was poised to win the individual spoils, and his team, Central Gauteng B, was leading the Team event, both by one shot, playing the last hole.

Ferreira, who has been in fine form, drove it into the fairway on a very reachable, for two, par 5. Needing just a par for both victories, Ferreira hit his approach shot into the greenside bunker and then “teethed” his bunker shot accross the green and into another bunker. His next bunker shot was a more difficult shot, which he executed well, and it finished 3 metres from the hole. His putt slid past the right edge and handed the team spoils to Central Gauteng A and Ferreira ended in a playoff with PG van Zyl, fresh off qualifying for the 2009 Sunshine Tour, for the individual spoils.

On the first playoff hole, van Zyl hit his approach to within a couple of metres, and after Ferreira made a solid par, van Zyl holed out to take the individual trophy.

This ended a very successful run of form for Ferreira who has finished 1st, 5th and now 2nd in a playoff in the three tournaments namely the Central Gauteng Open, Harry Oppenheimer Trophy and International Teams Championship, played over the past 10 days.

Western Province finished in 3rd position in the Team event but this after their in-form player, Nicol van Wyk, had to withdraw due to septicaemia in his foot that caused heavy swelling and started to spread.The doctor who diagnosed him all but forced him to withdraw which was unfortunate as Western Province were almost certain of winning the team event if he had been fit to play. They were leading by 6 shots after the second round and with only three players for the final 36 holes, they still managed to finish only one shot behind the two Central Gauteng teams.