WP bounce back at SA U-19 IPT
Western Province forced their title defence back on track in round two of the South African U-19 Inter-Provincial with a fine showing on a day when a strong easterly wind severely tested the field at Worcester Golf Club.
Province took advantage of their skills in the wind take the top spot in the A-Section log on seven points after thumping Boland and KwaZulu-Natal 8 – 4.
The Cape side scored a narrow one point win against Central Gauteng and drew against Gauteng North on Monday and it looked like it might be another tough day at the office after a struggling start in the Foursomes.
They trailed KwaZulu-Natal 1.5 – 2.5 and tied Boland 2-all but, as the wind picked up speed and lashed around the unprotected front nine, Western Province turned up the head on the opposition.
Hilmi Mallick beat Chris Woollam 6 & 5 to erase the deficit against KwaZulu-Natal and Deon Germishuys put Western Province in attack mode when he won 6 & 4.
Cole Cruickshank claimed first blood against Boland when he whipped Eduard de Villiers 7 & 5 and Germishuys defeated Dandre Spies 5 & 4 to turn the tide for Province.
“Winning the first two Singles against KZN definitely changed the momentum in that match and taking two early wins against Boland set us up nicely to win that match, too,” said Western Province skipper Michael Sherriff.
“When you look closely at the scorecards, you’ll see that we also struggled like everyone else, but we just made more pars to be honest. We hit a lot of low shots to try and keep the ball in play.
“It was really tough when the wind was gusting up to 50 km per hour and birdies were few and far between today, but our guys kept cool heads to put us back in to the fight.”
In the remaining A-Section matches, KwaZulu-Natal downed Boland while Gauteng North carved out a hard-fought for victory over Ekurhuleni.
KwaZulu-Natal carried a 3 – 1 lead into the Singles, where Ruben Coetzer, Liam McIlroy, Jason Broomhead and Gregory McKay took care of business to secure an 8 – 4 victory.
Having won the Foursomes 2.5 – 1.5, Estiaan Conradie handed Burt Gildenhuys a 7 & 6 hiding to give Gauteng North a solid start the Singles, but Brandon Gildenhuys, Jason Thalrose and Tristen Strydom mounted a strong assault to put Ekurhuleni ahead.
However, Keegan de Lange, Cliffie Thompson, Keegan McLachlan and Ross Sinclair delivered the winning blows for Gauteng North.
The 7.5 – 4.5 took Gauteng North’s tally to four points, but with 19.5 games points, they edged out Southern Cape, who enjoyed a second round bye.
A-SECTION ROUND TWO RESULTS
Western Province 8 Boland 4
Western Province 8 KwaZulu-Natal 4
KwaZulu-Natal 8 – Boland 4
Gauteng North 7.5 – Ekurhuleni 4.5
A-SECTION LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Western Province (4, 3, 1, 0, 7, 28.5)
2 Gauteng North (3, 1, 2, 0, 4, 19.5)
3 Southern Cape (2, 2, 0, 0, 4, 16.5)
4 KwaZulu-Natal (4, 1, 0, 3, 2, 21)
5 Ekurhuleni (3, 1, 0, 2, 2, 15)
6 Central Gauteng (2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 11.5)
7 Boland (2, 0, 0, 2, 0, 8)
Written and released by Lali Stander on behalf of the South African Golf Association.