South Africa beat Scotland

The ten man Protea amateur golf team beat a strong Scottish team by 18 points to 12 to win the Leopard Trophy in a two day Test Match which concluded on Wednesday.

The second annual contest was played at the picturesque Leopard Creek Country Club just outside Malelane in Mpumalanga.

The Protea Team started the final day well when they won three of their five morning Betterball matches to edge a further point ahead of the Scots to that of their overnight standings.

Of these matches the host team captain Ryan Dreyer and the South African Stroke Play Champion, Jared Harvey, recorded a handsome victory over Ross Kellet and Kris Nicol of 6 and 5.

The hosts, now leading 11½ points to 8½, needed only to win four of the ten afternoon singles matches to lift the handsome Leopard Trophy provided by one of the country’s most ardent supporters of golf, Johann Rupert.

With only a half point coming the hosts way from the first three matches it looked like the strong Scottish team, who had been in South Africa for more than a month prior to this match, were again going to show their strong finishing skills as they had done in the Sanlam South African Amateur Championships when they had three players in the last four of the match play.

However South Africa this time dominated by the visiting team extracting six points from the last seven matches to take the trophy for the second time in as many years.

The standout performances were those of the youngest players in the South African team Haydn Porteous and Brandon Stone. They beat Scott Gibson and James White 6 and 5 and 4 and 3 respectively..

Test Match: South Africa vs Scotland

Leopard Creek Country Club, Malalane

Final Day’s Results

Morning Betterball

South Africa vs Scotland

Brandon Stone & Rikus Nortje lost to Michael Stewart & Jordan Findlay 3 and 2;

CJ du Plessis & Ruan de Smidt lost to Paul Shields & James White 1 down

Coenie Bester & Hendre Cilliers beat David Law & Scott Gibson 2 and 1;

Daniel Hammond & Haydn Porteous beat Phillip McLean & Greg Paterson 3 and 2;

Ryan Dreyer & Jared Harvey beat Ross Kellet & Kris Nicol 6 and 5.

Result

South Africa 3 points; Scotland 2 points

Cumulative Points

South Africa 11½ points; Scotland 8½ points

Afternoon Singles

(South Africa vs Scotland)

CJ du Plessis halved with Michael Stewart;

Ruan de Smidt lost to Paul Shields 3 and 2;

Coenie Bester lost to David Laws 5 and 3;

Haydn Porteous beat Scott Gibson 6 and 5;

Rikus Nortje beat Ross Kellet 1 up;

Daniel Hammond halved with Greg Paterson;

Jared Harvey beat Phillip McLean 4 and 3;

Brandon Stone beat James White 4 and 3;

Ryan Dreyer beat Jordan Findlay 2 up;

Hendre Cilliers halved with Kris Nicol

Result

South Africa 6½ points; Scotland 3½ points

Final Cumulative Points

South Africa 18 points; Scotland 12 points.