South Africa Wins Comfortably

South Africa won the 4th African Amateur Golf Team Championships comfortably, by 28 shots yesterday. The biennial event, played over 72 holes, was staged over two days at th

e Rossmund Golf Club outside Swakopmund in Namibia. 13 African countries participated in the event, four more than in the event last held in Uganda two years ago.

The South African team was represented by PH McIntyre (20) (Ekurhuleni), Attie Sch

wartzel (19) (Central Gauteng), Nicol van Wyk (23) (Western Province) and Alpheus Kelapile (24) (North West).

It was not all plain sailing for the South Africans. After two rounds, the host team, Namibia, were tied with the eventual winners. However the second day, playing 36 holes each day, was a different story. The South Africans put 20 shots between them and the home team at the end of the third round. From then on it was a case of by how much the strong South African team was going to win by.

“It was a great tournament,” said Enver Hassen the team manager. “The golf course was in good condition, however a ball off the fairway was basically in desert sand which punished the player.” He was saying this in order to explain why only one player, in the entire field, managed to string four rounds together and finish under par.

The best performing individual player was Ekurhuleni’s PH McIntyre, he managed to finish on 286, two under par, eight shots clear of the next best player, Greg Snow, from Kenya.

“South Africa put in a bid to host this event,” said Enver Hassen, Senior Vice President of the South African Golf Association. “I am pleased to report that it was favourably received and we will be hosting this event in 2011.”

Teams Scores:
873 South Africa (219,224,210,220)
901 Namibia (219,224,230,228) 902
Zimbabwe (218,232,223,229) 912
Kenya (232,231,223,226)
931 Botswana (230,240,228,233)
938 Egypt (238,227,237,236)
953 Swaziland (237,248,230,238)
955 Zambia (236,242,237,240)
982 Uganda (245,252,248,237)
998 Rwanda (252,247,243,256)
1000 Mauritius (254,243,245,258)
1078 Lesotho (263,287,260,268)

Leading individual Scores Rossmund G.C., Swakopmund, Namibia (par 72)
286 (-2) PH McIntyre (SA) (73,72,70,71)
294 (+6) Greg Snow (KEN) (72,75,72,75)
295 (+7) Attie Schwartzel (SA) (74,79,70,72), Alpheus Kelapile (SA) (75,73,70,77)
298 (+10) Franscois Hanekom (NAM) (72,74,76,76)
299 (+11) Brian Gondo (ZIM) (76,76,68,69)
300 (+12) Werner Lassen (NAM) (70,71,82,77)
302 (+14) Nicol van Wyk (SA) (72,79,73,78)

For further information please contact:
Neale Kunhardt (President: SAGA) Cell: 082 374 3456
Bruce Younge (Executive Director: SAGA) Cell: 082 374 3455
Enver Hassen (Team Manager & Senior Vice President: SAGA) Cell: 082 374 3454

Press release written and distributed by Nic Lanham (Cell: 082 990 6067 e-mail: nlanham@icon.co.za )