Western Province going for No 16

Truimphant Western Province team of 2008DURBAN, 17 September 2009 – Defending champions Western Province are hunting a sixteenth South African Inter-Provincial title when this year’s tournament tees off at Durban Country Club from 21-25 September.

Southern Cape Open champion, Adrian Ford, Northern Amateur winner, Nicol van Wyk, as well as Aaron Russell, Justin Turner, Werner Theart (team captain) and Gregg Upton are all back as members of last year’s victorious team.

Van Wyk is an able replacement for Inter-Provincial veteran Cameron Johnston, who has joined the professional circuit, while LeRiche Ehlers and Robbie Oosthuizen – the reigning SA Mid-Amateur champion – complete a formidable squad.

“We are as ready as can be expected,” said team manager Henk Smith. “I think we stand a strong chance of successfully defending our title. But we do need to have a solid start against KwaZulu-Natal, in our first round match, to get the momentum going.”

Just 12 months after their promotion to the A Division, hosts KwaZulu-Natal will certainly be out to take advantage of the local conditions and their intimate knowledge of a Durban Country Club layout, which has hosted 3 SA Inter-Provincials and 16 South African Opens.

Boland, Central Gauteng and Gauteng North have also announced strong squads for this year’s tournament.

Although Boland lost Jacques Blaauw, Johan du Buisson and Keenan Davidse to the professional circuit, Mark Mahoney has rejoined the side. And with Justin Harding back from the United States, last year’s runners-up will offer a strong challenge.

Central Gauteng will field one of their strongest teams since winning back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006, including captain Steven Williams, who earned national colours for the Test against France earlier this year, reigning Glacier SA Amateur champion, Ryan Dreyer, and the highly promising Yubin Jung.

Gauteng North will draw on the experience of Kenny Goosen, Rae Mackie and Derik Ferreira, the latter of whom represented South Africa in the French Test and Zone VI this season.

In the B Section, Eastern Province and Ekurhuleni seem set to battle for top honours.

In the first round A Section matches, Western Province go up against KwaZulu-Natal, Boland face the Free State & Northern Cape, and Central Gauteng meet Gauteng North.

FORMAT OF COMPETITION:

There are six teams in the A Section and seven in the B Section. Each team plays the others in the same Section. There are eight players to a team. In each match there are four foursomes matches, played in the morning, followed by eight singles matches, in the afternoon. Each match counts for one point. The team winning more than six points wins the match. The team assembling the most points in each Section, come the end of play on Friday, wins

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