DOWERGLEN (21 September 2015) – Gauteng North bellowed their intentions at the 55th South African Inter-Provincial, sponsored by Tempest, when they obliterated Limpopo in the opening round, while KwaZulu-Natal also threw down the gauntlet with a strong assault on Free State in the B-Section matches at Glendower Golf Club on Monday.
Gauteng North became only the fourth team in the history of the championship to be relegated just a year after winning the A-Division, but the Daisies put an exclamation mark on their intention to win promotion in this year’s edition when they handed Limpopo an 11 – 1 drubbing.
After scoring a clean sweep in the Foursomes, Gauteng North won the first five matches to take control of the game.
Marco Loubser beat Gerhard Pepler 5 & 4, Andrew van der Knaap beat Ricardo Loock 7 & 6 and Hendrikus Stoop downed Peter Masehela 7 & 5.
Reigning Nomads SA Boys U-19 Match Play champion Ross Sinclair added fuel to fire when he handed David Wiggill a 6 & 4 drubbing and Boys Championship finalist Keegan de Lange stretched their advantage to nine points when he downed Menno Malherbe 3 & 1.
Limpopo had a brief reprieve when Quintin Crause rallied to beat Teaghan Gauche 2-up, but James du Preez and Jason Smith drove the last nails in Limpopo’s coffin.
Du Preez beat Cameron Nesmith 4 & 3, while former SA Stroke Play champion Smith kept up the pressure to defeat Hilton Hughes 1-up.
Meanwhile KwaZulu-Natal rode a 3 – 1 lead in the Foursomes to a 9 -3 victory over Free State.
Nomads National Order of Merit winner Aneurin Gounden, Luke Mayo and Siyanda Mwandla stretched KwaZulu-Natal’s lead to five points in the first three games, before Andre van Zyl was able to turn the tide.
Van Zyl downed Gregory McKay 5 & 4, but the respite was brief as Matt Saulez, veteran Gavin Sole and Clayton Mansfield continued the whipping.
Mansfield won 4 & 3, Nomads National of Order of Merit winner Saulez claimed a 3 & 2 victory and Sole defeated Richard Maree 2 & 1 to take the team’s tally to nine points.
Blaine Dormehl scored Free State’s third point when he downed opposite number Malcolm Mitchell 2 & 1 in the final game.
North West had a tougher time against Mpumalanga, but persevered under pressure to take the match 7 – 5.
Mpumalanga trailed 1 – 3 going into the Singles and North West pulled four points clear with victories from SP Campher and Riaan Swart and halves from Ruan Prigge and Eduard van den Berg.
However, Mpumalanga’s Quintin Wilsnach, Lourens Volschenk and Andre van Heerden all clean up in their respective games to narrow the gap to just one point.
It came down to Aubrey Beckley and Stephen Morrison at number one, but Beckley secured the win for North West when he defeated Morrison 1-up.
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Gauteng North 11 – Limpopo 1
KwaZulu-Natal 9 – Free State 3
North West 7 – Mpumalanga 5
FIRST ROUND LOG
(Pos-Union-Played-Won-Drawn-Lost-Points-Matches won)
1 Gauteng North (1, 1, 0, 0, 2, 11.0)
2 KwaZulu-Natal (1, 1, 0, 0, 2, 9.0)
3 North West (1, 1, 0, 0, 2, 7.0)
4 Mpumalanga (1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 5.0)
5 Free State (1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 3.0)
6 Limpopo (1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1.0)
PHOTO – Gauteng North’s Keegan de Lange; credit Ernest Blignaut.