KZN to defend Mid Amateur IPT Title

Tournament venue: Worcester Golf Club in the BolandThe eight man team from Kwazulu Natal make the journey south, to the Boland’s Worcester Golf Club, to defend the title they won last year when they tee up in the 2010 South African Mid Amateur Inter Provincial on Monday (11 October 2010).

The five day annual team tournament has received entries from thirteen of the South African Golf Association’s fourteen Unions, two more teams than the previous year.

This is the fourth year that the tournament is taking place. Mid Amateur refers to the fact that participating players must be thirty five years of age or older.

The participating Unions are divided into two divisions, A Division, which comprises six teams, and B Division, which has seven teams competing.

Kwazulu Natal won a very tightly contested the A Division last year which took place at Irene Country Club in Gauteng North . This was despite being soundly beaten by Western Province and only managing to share the spoils with Boland when both teams won six points each.

This year’s host Union Boland, and their neighbours, Western Province will be going all out to ensure the ‘banana boys’ return empty handed this year. Western Province have finished runner up in the last two years and will be keen to go one better. Boland on the other hand will have home team advantage which can work in their favour.

“The A Division should be a closely contested again this year with any one of the six teams capable of winning,” said Bruce Younge, the Executive Director of the SAGA, who will also be the tournament director for the week of the SA Mid Amateur Inter Provincial. In addition to the teams mentioned earlier, Younge added Central Gauteng and Ekurhuleni, stating both these teams have some very experienced players. “The team that best masters the conditions on the day will determine the winner,” quipped Younge.

Each Union team in a division plays the others once. In each contest, between two teams, there are twelve points to play for. Four points, from four morning foursomes matches, and eight points, from the eight afternoon singles matches, make up the contest. The first team to score more than six points wins. The winning team is awarded two points. In the event of a draw both teams are awarded one point each. The team amassing the most points over the five days wins their respective divisional competition.

The A Division is made up of teams from Boland, Central Gauteng, Ekurhuleni, Kwazulu Natal, Western Province and Gauteng North, who won the B Division last year.

The B Division includes teams from Eastern Province, Free State & Northern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Southern Cape, North West Province and Border.

Eastern Province, Border and Southern Cape are contesting this competition for the first time. Last year all three Unions combined to form an Eastern Cape team which managed to finish third in the A Division. “When all three Unions requested that they enter their own teams this year, the SAGA ruled that they all start in the B Division,” explained Bruce Younge.

Free State and Northern Cape, with some experienced players in their midst, look like the team to beat in the B Division.

The first matches start at 06h45 on Monday. The singles, which will be played in the afternoon, start from 10h45. These starting times apply for each day’s play, weather permitting.

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