Southern Cape powers to promotion at SA Junior IPT
Southern Cape mowed down North West on the final day of this year’s South African Junior Inter-Provincial, beating their biggest rivals for the coveted promotion to the A-Section of the country’s largest national junior team championship on Friday.
Both teams had won five of their six matches and going head-to-head into battle, the two sides topped the log at eight points each.
But it was the Garden Route side that emerged the champions after winning the showdown 8 – 4.
Team manager Roger Wessels was very impressed with the fighting spirit from his young charges.
“North West won two games in the foursomes and we halved another, so we started the singles on the back foot,” the former professional explained.
“We were four down through nine holes, but the team showed incredible spirit and determination over the back nine at Bellville Golf Club to pull through and secure the win for us.”
Johan Oosthuizen levelled the playing field for Southern Cape when he handed Christopher Moroke a 6 & 5 drubbing and Jack Duthie put the team ahead with a 4 & 3 result against Tiaan Maree.
Former SAGDB member Franklin Manchest extended their lead by taking down Pieter Kruger 3 & 2, and Mentz Germishuis widened the gap to three points beating Philip Niemand 2-up.
North West’s Ruan Prigge halved with Cyril Botha to keep the difference to three, but Riaan Swart gave the side a glimmer of hope when he defeated Garen Niemand at the 18th.
But Theunie Bezuidenhout and Jovan Rebula hammered the last two nails in North West’s coffin by beating Cameron Moralee 2 & 1 and Stephen Allen 5 & 4 respectively.
In recent years, junior golf in the Southern Cape junior golf has grown in leaps and bounds, in no small measure thanks to the Southern Cape Golf Union and institutions like the KeNako Academy, the Louis Oosthuizen Academy, the Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation and the SAGDB, that continues to discover and cultivate great talent.
Wessels said the union invests a lot in developing their junior section.
“The president of Southern Cape Golf Union Junior Golf, Stephen Murray, works tirelessly to ensure that the juniors have a lot of tournaments to give them a competitive environment to grow and gain experience,” Wessels said. “Stephen has the full backing of the union, because we need to grow the game, pull more juniors into the game and nurture the talent of these players.
“The two most valuable players in the B-Section this week was Johan Oosthuizen and Cyril Botha, and I believe that speaks volumes to the depth of talent in the Southern Cape.”
Had Southern Cape and North West drawn their match, KwaZulu-Natal had an outside chance to win the B-Section.
The team stepped up to the challenge by defeating Mpumalanga 8 – 4 and the result was good enough to lift the boys in black to second place on the final log with nine points.
Boland vaulted to eight points after giving Border a comprehensive 9 – 3 whipping and beat North West to third place by two game points.
B-DIVISION: DAY FIVE RESULTS
North West Golf Union 4.0 vs Southern Cape Golf Union 8.0
KwaZulu Natal Golf Union 8.0 vs Mpumalanga Golf Union 4.0
Boland Golf Union 9.0 vs Border Golf Union 3.0
B-DIVISION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Southern Cape Golf Union (6, 5, 0, 1, 10, 47.5)
2 KwaZulu Natal Golf Union (6, 4, 1, 1, 9, 43.0)
3 Boland Golf Union (6, 4, 0, 2, 8, 42.0)
4 North West Golf Union (6, 3, 2, 1, 8, 40.0)
5 Border Golf Union (6, 2, 1, 3, 5, 32.0)
6 Free State & Northern Cape (6, 1, 0, 5, 2, 25.5)
7 Mpumalanga Golf Union (6, 0, 0, 6, 0, 22.0)