KZN set course for promotion at SA U-19 IPT

KwaZulu-Natal drew a bold line under their intention to gain promotion in this year’s South African U-19 Inter-Provincial on a day of upsets and jostling for position in the B-Division at Krugersdorp Golf Club on Wednesday.

The coastal side reeled in two more impressive victories to remain undefeated after five starts and top the standings with 10 points, three clear of Eastern Province.

KwaZulu-Natal handed Mpumalanga 9.5 – 2.5 drubbing, but it was the mental strength the young side exhibited in the Singles to beat Boland 7 – 5 that really encouraged team manager Shelagh Digby.

“We drew 2-all in the Foursomes against Boland and we knew they would come at us in the Singles, but our players kept calm, kept their focus and cool heads prevailed,” she said.

Eastern Province strengthen their bid for promotion with a 7 – 5 result against North West, but Boland kept themselves in the running with 9 – 3 victory against Mpumalanga.

“With a three point lead you could say we are in a comfortable position, but the race is still wide open,” said KwaZulu-Natal assistant manager, Joseph Kunene.

“We have a bye on Thursday, but we will keep an eye on the scores. We can’t afford to get too complacent. Boland plays Free State and they will be gunning for a win to make up for today’s loss. “And Eastern Province is very much still in it, so it’s not a gimmie. We will need to bring everything to the final round if we want to nail down the promotion.”

KwaZulu-Natal led Mpumalanga 3 – 1 in the Foursomes, but tied Boland with a win and two halves.

Jason Broomhead won 6 & 4, Ruben Coetzer 5 & 2 and Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation member Anuerin Gounden triumphed 3 & 2 to put KwaZulu-Natal in the driver’s seat against Boland.

Halves from Ben Botha and Gregory Mckay further boosted their tally and Luke Mayo and Matt Saulez delivered the final blow when both players finished in the points.

The coastal side lost just one of their Singles against Mpumalanga, while Matt Saulez halved with Andre van Heerden (Jnr).

Boland took a 3 – 1 lead into the Singles against Mpumalanga and Eduard de Villiers, Erhard Lambrechts, Dylon Jacobs, Hennie O’Kennedy, Herman Loubser, Hendrik van der Merwe and Keelan Africa notched the victories to lift Boland to third in the log with six points and 34 games points.

Eastern Province and North West also finished the Foursomes in a stale mate, but Lukas Pretorius, Kyle de Beer, Dehan Joubert, Wian van Aswegen and JG Smith stepped it up in the Singles to secure the team’s third victory in their fifth match.

The line-up on Thursday will see Boland take on Free State, while Border, Mpumalanga and North West Province will face off in the second match.

B-DIVISION THIRD ROUND RESULTS
Boland 5.0 vs KwaZulu-Natal 7.0
KwaZulu-Natal 9.5 vs Mpumalanga 2.5
Boland 9.0 vs Mpumalanga 3.0
Eastern Province 7.0 vs North West Province 5.0

B-DIVISION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 KwaZulu-Natal (5, 5, 0, 0, 10, 44.5)
2 Eastern Province (5, 3, 1, 1, 7, 30.0)
3 Boland (4, 3, 0, 1, 6, 34.0)
4 Free State (4, 1, 2, 1, 4, 22.5)
5 Mpumalanga (4, 0, 1, 3, 1, 15.5)
6 North West Province (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 13.0)
7 Border (3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 8.5)

Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.

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