KZN, EP keep fireworks going at SA IPT

On day three at the 56th South African Inter-Provincial, the Eastern Province claimed a decisive victory over Free State to keep their promotion battle on track while KwaZulu-Natal finally took a little breath of relief after coming through another two tough matches unscathed on Wednesday.
Eastern Province hammered Free State 8 – 4, KwaZulu-Natal beat Border by the same margin and defeated North West 7.5 – 4.5 while North West kept their promotions hopes alive with an 8 – 4 win over Border.
“The loss to North West on day one hurt our chances, so we need a win against Free State to strengthen our chances for promotion,” said Eastern Province manager Sieg Human after the side stretched a 3.5 -0.5 lead in the foursomes to victory.
Andile Adam and Fezekile Kana set the side on a winning run in the foursomes when they handed Therion Nel and Wilco Nienaber a huge 8 & 7 beating, and Kyle de Beer whipped Ivan van der Merwe with a massive 9 & 7 to keep the momentum going in the singles.
“Dylan Germshuys Alan Lones and Luke Jerling reeled in the rest of our points, and Fezekile halved his game to get us another half point.”
The double celebration brought Eastern Province within two points of KwaZulu-Natal, who lead the log standings on 10 points.
“The guys really rallied exceptionally well and we needed a good show,” Human said. “Both teams have a bye on Thursday, but we
are in a challenging position before we take on KwaZulu-Natal in Friday’s final round.”
Last year KwaZulu-Natal came agonisingly close to promotion last year, but the 2009 champions lost their chance to Gauteng North in last year’s final round. Manager Ivan Curlewis kept the pressure up, not wanting his charges to get complacent after three wins, but at five for five in matches and wins, the man in charge is finally letting up.
“We led the foursomes against both Border and North West, but both teams put up a helluva fight in the singles,” Curlewis said. “The boys did fantastic under all that pressure to get the wins for us and they deserve to let their hair down on Thursday.”
Jason Broomhead, Clayton Mansfield and Malcolm Mitchell won both their games, while Gavin Sole, Gregory Mckay and Matt Saulez halved against North West.
Sole pounded Steven Pope from Border 5 & 4, Louis Albertse took a 3 & 2 result and Malcolm Mitchell pummelled Niel du Preez 4 & 3 to put KwaZulu-Natal in the drivers’ seat. Gregory Mckay secured the final half point when he squared off with Nico Joubert.
B-SECTION RESULTS – ROUND 3
North West 4.5 vs KwaZulu-Natal 7.5
KwaZulu-Natal 8 vs Border 4
North West 8 vs Border 4
Eastern Province 8 vs Free State 4
B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 KwaZulu-Natal (5, 5, 0, 0, 10, 46.5)
2 Eastern Province (5, 4, 0, 1, 8, 39.5)
3 North West (4, 3, 0, 1, 6, 29)
4 Border (4, 1, 0, 3, 2, 21)
5 Free State (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 15.5)
6 Limpopo (4, 0, 0, 4, 0, 8.5)
7 Mpumalanga (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 8)
PHOTOS – Eastern Province players; credit Karl du Preez.
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.
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