South Africa Lose to New Zealand

South Africa went down 2.5 points to 3.5 points against New Zealand in the opening round of the 2007 Southern Cross Cup, a biennial amateur golf competition played between four countries, the others being Argentina and Australia. The event is being staged at the Martindale Country Club situated approximately 55 kms outside Buenos Aires.

Four players to a team, in each game there are six matches, each worth one point. In the morning, playing two foursomes matches, South Africans Ruan Botha and Johan du Buisson lost to Andrew Searle and Leighton James 2 & 1. Louis de Jager and Tryone Ferreira faired better, they beat the New Zealand pairing of Jared Pender and Kevin Smith by the same margin, 2 & 1.

The afternoon the teams played singles against each other, South Africa won one, halved one and lost two matches.

In the other game of the day, Argentina, the host country, dominated their match against Australia, beating them 5 points to 1.

The second round of games will be played today.

Results of SA vs NZ

Foursomes:

Louis de Jager and Tryone Ferreira beat Jared Pender and Kevin Smith 2&1
Ruan Botha and Johan du Buisson lost to Andrew Searle and Leighton James 2 & 1

Singles:

Ruan Botha (SA) lost to Kevin Smith (NZ) 4 & 3
Johan du Buisson (SA) lost too Leighton James (NZ) 1 down
Tyrone Ferriera (SA) beat Andrew Searle (NZ) 3 & 2
Louis de Jager halved with Jared Pender (NZ).

For further information please contact:

Bruce Younge (SAGA Executive Director) Cell: 082 574 3455

Written and distributed by: Nic Lanham Cell: 082 990 6067

e-mail: nlanham@icon.co.za