Tuks blasts to USSA Golf Champs win

The winning University of Pretoria A team at the 2017 University Sport South Africa Golf Championship; credit Karl du Preez.

David Nortje, Ian Jacobs, Jacques Brits and Calvin Ferreira from the University of Pretoria smoked Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University to seal their 11th victory in the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Golf Championship in spectacular style at Centurion Country Club on Friday.

Having mowed down North West University A 5 -1, Tuks A took down their own B-team 4 – 2 to reach the final.

NMMU surrendered just half a point in their opening match against the University of Johannesburg A and won 4 – 2 againts Varsity College A in their semi-final round.

It was a repeat of last year’s Cup Champions final, but this time, the defending champions drew the short straw.

Nortje and Jacobs downed Kyle de Beer and Hando Brophy 4 & 3 to win the first game and Ferreira and Brits combined to make it a clean sweep in the foursomes when they beat Altin van der Merwe and Jacques Smith by the same margin.

Brits continued the hiding when he won the first game out against Brophy 4 & 3 and Jacobs, who aced the 11th on his way to a 3 & 2 win over Smith, took Tuks A to an unbeatable 4 – 0 lead.

Van der Merwe avoided a whitewash for NMMU when he downed Ferreira 2 & 1, but skipper Nortje eliminated his opposite number De Beer 1-up to seal a 5 – 1 victory for the former champions.

“It was really a fantastic week for the team,” said TuksGolf Club & Academies Head Coach Llewellyn van Leeuwen, who managed the A-team.

“Ian Jacobs was dubbed John the Baptist, because he was just incredible in the desert on the back nine and he capped that off with his hole in one on the 11th. Davey, our captain and our number one, played like an absolute star. He had to finish birdie-birdie to beat Kyle on the last hole and he just delivered every time a demand was made on him.

“Calvin was the go-to man the whole week and unfortunately he got off to a bad start against Altin and lost the first four holes, but he never gave up and kudos to him for fighting all the way to the end.

“Jacques shot 87 in the first round of the seeding qualifier, but he stepped it up in a big way in the match play stages. Ian was 3-up with three to play, which would have gotten us one point and we needed a half point to win. Jacques played like a demon and hit the winning putt against Hando to win 4 & 3 and that sealed the championship for us.

“We are super stoked with the result. All four players finished in the top five of the Most Valued Players List, which demonstrates their dedication and determination to win this for the University of Pretoria.”

University of Stellenbosch A and University of Johannesburg B came out on top in the round robin B-Section and C-Section clashes.

Maties A lost 4 – 2 in their final match against North West University A, but having amassed three points in earlier victories, beat the University of Witwatersrand A and Central University of Technology Free State A for the B-Section title by half a point.

Wits A edged out CUT A for second in games points (13 to 12).

The University of Johannesburg B lifted the C-Section title with 2.5 points. UJ B drew 3-all draw against the Tshwane University of Technology A in their final round clash, but had enough points in the bag to beat the University of Rhodes B by half a point.

PHOTO: The winning University of Pretoria A team at the 2017 University Sport South Africa Golf Championship; credit Karl du Preez.
From left to right: Jacques Brits, Llewellyn van Leeuwen (manager), David Nortje (captain), Ian Jacobs and Calvin Ferreira.

Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the USSA Championship and GolfRSA a SAGA and WGSA Not-For-Profit company.