GNGU IPT A and B teams with Alet Crous (Back left) Manager of the B-side and Pat Roets (Second from the right, back row) Manager of the A-side

The IPT tournament format is built in the following manner. Monday sees the conventional flag raising ceremony and welcoming dinner. The teams meet each other and the rules are decided and communicated. Tuesday is the first tournament day. The morning the teams play foursomes stroke play and the afternoon leg sees individual stroke play. Using the previous year’s match-play results the teams are divided into an A-division and a B-division. The A and B divisions are then sub-divided into an A and B flight depending on how well your team plays the stroke play leg on the first day. The participating teams them compete foursomes match play and singles match play for three consecutive days against all the teams in their flight.

This year both the GNGU A and B sides made it into the A flight of the A division. Both teams thus had the opportunity to win the IPT outright. One of the main contributors was our own Danielle du Toit who won the individual stroke play event on one under par after a count out.

Our opponents were both the A and B teams of Central Gauteng. (It is the first time in the history of the event that only two provinces were represented in the A flight of the A division) Central however were sporting particularly impressive teams with no less than 8 of their team members listed in the top twenty of the SA women’s senior rankings.

Unfortunately our A team lost to Central’s B team and our B team lost to Central’s A team during the first round. This set the tone for the remainder of the match play component with Central A and B taking the first and second spots with the GNGU contingent settling for third and fourth spots respectively.

We fielded relatively novice sides in terms of experience although our teams were probably on average slightly older the most other teams. All in all the result was better than expected and the future looks promising for our ladies.