KZN shine on opening day of interprovincial
There was a chill in the air on Monday as some of the country’s best amateur players gathered at East London Golf Club for day one of the SA Country District tournament.
A total of 10 teams, divided into two sections, took to the demanding layout in a battle for supremacy that will play out until Friday afternoon.
The A section teams are North West, Northern Cape, Kwazulu-natal, Free State and Boland while section B compromises Limpopo, Eastern Province, Mpumalanga, Southern Cape and Border.
Host union Border had a bye on the opening day and will be in action on day two under the leadership of captain Ben Jonas.
The veteran golfer was announced as the first black captain in the history of the Border Golf Union.
Jonas is backed by a formidable team that includes Fellow Ngantweni, Johan Vosloo, Ryan Koekemoer, Werner Potgieter, Alec Stander, Gabriel de Jong and Johan Diedericks.
The captain believes they have a good balance and that being the hosts will be an advantage.
“The [players] selected are a mixture of experience and youngsters. We have a very strong side that can take Border to the top.
“The three youngsters in the team have done well in tournaments, accumulating enough points to be selected.
“As the hosts, we know the course in East London. We may come from different clubs but we have played at East London GC quite a lot.”
In day one’s action, play commenced with the morning foursomes.
In section B, Limpopo took on Eastern Province and it was a relatively easy 3½-½ win for EP. The other match-up was between Southern Cape and Mpumalanga. Southern Cape emerged with a 3½- ½ advantage going into the afternoon singles.
While in section A, KZN beat Free State 3-1. It was a rather tight affair between North West and Northern Cape with North West eventually clinching the morning 3-1.
The team that stole the show on the day was KZN as they also went on to dominate Free State in the singles.
Their captain Koenie Erasmus was pleased with his team’s performance.
“Today we played very well. In the foursomes we were 3-1 against Free State and then in the singles we won 5-3 to win 84 overall,” Erasmus said.
“It was an awesome day to play golf; a perfect venue to play this calibre of golf.
“I’m very proud of my team, especially the youngsters. It was their first IPT and they came through very well.
“Your first day at the IPTS is always vital as it can give you a head start and that’s what we achieved.”
North West won their singles encounter against Northern Cape while EP and Southern Cape also defeated Limpopo and Mpumalanga respectively in section B.
Play continues on Tuesday.