KZN push the boat out in Buffalo City
KwaZulu-Natal celebrated their third South African Mid-Amateur Inter-Provincial Championship victory with an undefeated performance at East London Golf Club on Friday.
It was touch and go in their final clash against Western Province, but KZN team manager Neil Campion’s warriors threw everything they had left into the final skirmish and stayed the course to triumph 6.5 – 5.5.
“This is an incredible celebration for the whole squad,” said an elated Campion.
“We never took anything for granted. The players worked exceptionally hard for this final win, right down to the last putt in the last game out to pull this through.
“This morning, we squared the Foursomes with Western Province and every man on the team knew we had to dig deep to turn things around.”
Ludwig Schreuder downed Clive Lazarus 5 & 4 to take first blood for Province, but skipper Lyall McNeill levelled the scores when he downed Weyers Janse van Rensburg 4 & 3.
Former KZN player Elton James knocked out David Brown 3 & 2 to put Province temporarily ahead, but Dale Burraston beat Stefan Blommeart 2 & 1 to square the match and Bradley Davison gained control for KZN when he downed Gerlou Roux 2 & 1.
“It came down to the last three games and I can tell that all six players left nothing out on the course,” Campion said.
KwaZulu-Natal’s Keith Forde halved against Riaan Lewis, team mate Corne van Deventer squared his game with Greg Sheard and Murray Gilson claimed the final half point for KZN against Cameron Johnston.
“Lyall, Dale and Bradley gave us that slender one point cushion we needed and Dale, Stefan and Bradley fought like demons to get us the win,” Campion said.
“Like I’ve said all week, this is a team that bats from one to eight; there are no superstars. The whole team contributed and this is there moment to shine.”
McNeill said every man in the squad could fairly share in this triumph.
“I am incredibly proud of our team, for their complete commitment, their devotion to each other and their fantastic team spirit,” he said.
“We are all great mates and that united us and helped everyone to grind through the hard times and pull off an incredible victory for us.”
Three-time champions Central Gauteng whipped Ekurhuleni 7.5 – 4.5, but it was too little, too late and North West handed Gauteng North the wooden spoon with a 6.5 – 5.5 victory.
A-SECTION RESULT
KwaZulu-Natal 6.5 vs Western Province 5.5
North West 6.5 vs Gauteng North 5.5
Central Gauteng 7.5 vs Ekurhuleni 4.5
A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 KwaZulu-Natal (5, 5, 0, 0, 10, 39.0)
2 Central Gauteng (5, 4, 0, 1, 8, 38.0)
3 Western Province (5, 3, 0, 2, 6, 33.5)
4 Ekurhuleni (5, 1, 1, 3, 3, 22.5)
5 North West (5, 1, 1, 3, 3, 22.0)
6 Gauteng North (5, 0, 0, 5, 0, 25.0)
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.