North West quietly optimistic at SA IPT
Free State and Northern Cape hit the front in the fourth round foursomes at the 2013 South African Inter-Provincial, sponsored by Tempest, and will take a comfortable 3-1 cushion into their singles against Ekurhuleni.
This was good news for the North West, who are pinning their hopes on neighbouring Free State to beat the current log leaders to open up the battle for promotion.
However, the host union will also have to produce two winning performances at the Rustenburg Golf Club if they want to get back fight.
Ettienne Bates and Wynand Potgieter defeated their opposite numbers from Border and Mpumalanga 3&2, while former professional Danie van Niekerk and Wade Jacobs defeated Roy Gobey and Alan Lones from Border 1-up and beat Devon Strydom and Hannes van Dyk from Mpumalanga 2&1.
Aubrey Beckley and SP Campher gave North West a 3-1 lead after handing Border’s Pieter Nel and Jade Buitendag a 5&3 drubbing, but the pair could do no better than halve with Mpumalanga’s Lourens Volschenk and Thriston Lawrence to put North West 2.5 – 1.5 ahead.
Border leads Mpumalanga by the same margin.
A SECTION
Southern Cape are back on attack after going down to Western Province on Wednesday.
Lanny Davids and Ivan Williams combined for a 3&2 win over KwaZulu-Natal’s Greg Upneck and Elton James, while Staffie Barnard partnered Nomads SA Boys U-17 champion Jovan Rebula to a 1-up win over Chris van der Merwe and Ryan Birnie to put the Garden Route side two ahead.
Ryan Ciapperelli and Nicholas Mitchell lost 2&1 to Greg Royston and Gavin Sole, but Sanlam SA Amateur finalist Andrew Light and Breyten Meyer sealed a 2&1 win to give Southern Cape a 3-1 lead ahead of the singles.
“We went into the singles against Western Province with the same margin and came up short, so we need the guys to really rally today and convert the lead into victory,” said manager John Mitchell.
Central Gauteng will also be looking to extend their 3-1 lead against Boland.
Darin de Smidt and Jason Viljoen scored the first point for Central with a 3&2 win over Philip Spies and Anton Oosthuizen. Ryan Lane and Matthew Spacey added to their tally when they beat Trevor Mahoney and Nico van Rensburg 4&3 and Louis Taylor and Callum Mowat combined for their third point with a 2&1 win from Armandt Scholtz and Karl Ochse.
Henri van der Walt and Pierre de Villiers scored Boland’s only point when they defeated Eddie Taylor and Andi Dill 4&3.
Province and log leaders Gauteng North will start the afternoon at 2-all.