A M AT E U R N E W S
Cape teams celebrate SA Mid-Am IPT glory Western Province and Boland guaranteed the South a double celebration with duel success in the South African Mid-Amateur Inter-Provincial Championship at Rustenburg GC last month. Western Province captured the A-Section title in an unbeaten performance, while Boland blew Mpumalanga out of the water in their final round skirmish to win the B-Section promotion battle. Western Province 6 – 4 in the lead. Waylon Kukard took out Riaan Lewis 2 & 1 to cut Province’s lead to one, but rookie Werner Theart held his nerve down the closing stretch to claim the half point that sealed victory for Province. “Werner is a SA IPT veteran and his experience under pressure got the job done,” said Johnston. “He was 2-up with three to play when Ernest Botha kicked it into high gear. He birdied 16 and nearly holed out at 18, but Werner was as calm as the Dalai Lama and bagged the vital half point.
A-SECTION
Ekurhuleni blasted to a 3 – 1 lead in the final round foursomes, but Western Province overturned the two point deficit with a gung-ho performance in the singles to clinch a 6.5 – 5.5 victory. Western Province skipper Cameron Johnston obliterated Jan Delport 8 & 7 and Weyers Janse van Rensburg downed Lawrence Joubert 6 & 4 to level the match. Rowan du Preez briefly put Ekurhuleni back in front when he knocked out rookie Brent Kirstein 5 & 4, but Elton James took the match to 4-all when he handed Jaco Rall a 5 & 4 drubbing. Gerlou Roux eliminated Dino De Abreu 4 & 2 to boost Province’s tally to five, and Stefan Blommaert dispatched Donovan Pearce 3 & 2 to put
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“This is an incredible moment for the whole squad. It came down to how we would perform as a team against Ekurhuleni and I am so proud of how the players pulled together to get us the win. Elton and Gerlou came into the team firing after the premier SA Inter-Provincial and they were definitely our big guns, but every other guy on the team batted for this victory. “Our losses this week were marginal, but we never took anything for granted. That’s why every man in the squad can share in this triumph. The whole team and our manager Ludwig Schreuder contributed to pull it through.” Central Gauteng’s valiant 8.5 – 3.5 victory over KwaZulu-Natal was too little, too late. Western Province topped the standings with 12 points and the 2012 champions had to settle for the
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November | December 2016