Promotion battle heats up at SA IPT
Gauteng North and North West continued their winning ways, but Limpopo barely had time to recover after the 11 point loss to Gauteng North on Monday before KwaZulu-Natal handed them another hiding on day two at the 55th South African Inter-Provincial, sponsored by Tempest.
KwaZulu-Natal claimed a 4 – 0 whitewash in the Foursomes at Glendower Golf Club and racked in the Singles points to win 10.5 – 1.5.
Limpopo’s Gerhard Pepler defeated Anuerin Gounden 5 & 4, but Siyanda Mwandla and Malcolm Mitchell turned the tide for the 2009 champions.
Mwandla downed Peter Masehela 5 & 4 and Mitchell eliminated Hilton Hughes 5 & 3. Gregory McKay won 4 & 2, Clayton Mansfield walked off with a 3 & 1 victory and veteran Gavin Sole trumped Quintin Crause 1-up.
Matt Saulez drove home the whipping when he halved against David Wiggill.
The victory rocked KwaZulu-Natal to the top of the standings, but they only have half a games point advantage over Gauteng North, who moved to four points after beating Mpumalanga 8 – 4.
Gauteng North had a one point edge after a halve, two wins and a loss in the Foursomes.
Hendrikus Stoop downed Hannes van Dyk 7 & 6 to put the 2013 champions the early attack.
Marco Loubser won 2 & 1 and Andrew van der Knaap 2-up to add to their tally and Keegan de Lange pushed the team to 6.5 points with a 3 & 2 result against Kevin Smith.
Jason Smith claimed another point for the side at the 18, while Lourens Volschenk and Teaghan Gauche halved.
Quintin Wilsnach, who was a late replacement, beat reigning Nomads SA Boys U-19 Match Play champion Ross Sinclair to put a point on the board for Limpopo.
Andre van Heerden claimed their fourth point when he downed James du Preez 4 & 3.
The match between North West and Free State went right down the wire.
After North West led the Foursomes 3.5 – 0.5, Free State side launched a full assault to win the firs three games and all but two games went the distance.
After an almighty tussle, Riaan Swart defeated Andre van Zyl 1-up to secure a 6.5 – 5.5 result for North West.
Francois Kruger (3 & 2) and Danie van Niekerk (3 & 2) were the other point scores in the Singles for North West, while Roedu du Plessis (1-up), Henning de Jager (2 & 1), Heinrich Erasmus (1-up), Juran Dreyer (2 & 1) and Blaine Dormehl delivered the blows for Free State.
The promotion battle continues on Wednesday with KwaZulu-Natal facing North West, Limpopo lining up against Mpumalanga and Gauteng North going for a hat-trick of wins against Free State.
SECOND ROUND SCORES
KwaZulu-Natal 10.5 – Free State 1.5
Gauteng North 8 – Mpumalanga 4
North West 6.5 – Free State 5.5
SECOND ROUND LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 KwaZulu-Natal (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 19.5)
2 Gauteng North (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 19.0)
3 North West (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 13.5)
4 Mpumalanga (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 9.0)
5 Free State (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 8.5)
6 Limpopo (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2.5)
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.