Minnows shine at SA Under-19 IPT

Free State and North West got off to a flying start in the in the B-Section battle for promotion at the 2015 South African U-19 Inter-Provincial with two victories apiece at Worcester Golf Club on Monday.

After taking a commanding lead 3 – 1 lead over Mpumalanga and a clean sweep against Border in the Foursomes, Free State demolished Border 12 – 0 and handed Mpumalanga an 8.5 – 3.5 drubbing.

Ge-Rico Muller took the first scalp for Free State against Border when he downed Dylan Reid 6 & 4. Wilco Nienaber won 5 & 4 and Therion Nel, Leander Snyman and Ruan Pretorius followed with 4 & 3 victories to keep the momentum going. Franco Froneman (3 & 2), Attie van Wyk (3 & 1) and Steven le Roux (2 & 1) drove home the victory.

“It was quite incredible to watch this team go to work to get us off to a solid start,” said team manager Nicky Nel.

“It’s much harder to get to the A-Section than it is to stay there. To gain promotion, you have to start well and you have to keep winning, while you only need to win one match to keep your A-Section status.

“For five of our guys it’s their last SA U-19 IPT and they want to finish their junior careers with a promotion. We came really close last year when we tied for second with Boland, but we lost out in a games points count out on the automatic promotion this year. Therion, Wilco, Ruan and Stephen also played the SA U-23 IPT and finished second, so there is a lot of pride at stake this week.”

North West trailed Eastern Province 1.5 – 2.5 and was tied 2-all with Limpopo after the Foursomes, but the eight-man side mounted a spirited charge in the Singles to defeat both opponents 7.5 – 4.5.

Eastern Province scored a point for beating Limpopo 7 – 5 and Mpumalanga followed suit by whipping Border 9.5 – 2.5.

B-SECTION RESULTS
Limpopo 4.5 vs North West 7.5
North West 7.5 vs Eastern Province 4.5
Limpopo 5.0 vs Eastern Province 7.0
Border 0 vs Free State 12
Free State 8.5 vs Mpumalanga 3.5
Border 2.5 vs Mpumalanga 9.5

B-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Free State (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 20.5)
2 North West (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 15.0)
3 Mpumalanga (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 13.0)
4 Eastern Province (2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 11.5)
5 Limpopo (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 9.5)
6 Border (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2.5)

To view the scores and tee times, click HERE

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

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