Despite losing their final match to A-section champions Gauteng North 4-8, Western Province avoided relegation after Eastern Province were unable to beat Central Gauteng on day five of the South African Junior Interprovincial at Port Elizabeth Golf Club on Friday.
WP began the final day knowing that if they were unable to beat Gauteng North, they’d be relegated if EP managed a victory against Central.
The teams’ fate hung in the balance after the morning foursomes as Western Province lost all four matches while Eastern Province and Central won 2 games apiece.
In the first match of the day, Adam Johnston and Jano Stone trailed by three holes after just five played against Wandre Snyman and Fabrizio de Abreau. WP would birdie the 6th to eat into the deficit but a loss at the 10th to a par put them three adrift once more. A Province win through a birdie at the 12th would be their last “W” of the game, Gauteng notching a birdie at 13 before pars at 14 and 15 garnered victories and the win 5&3.
Nicolas van der Vyver and Nicholas Thompson fought tooth and nail despite losing the 10th, 12th and 13th which put them 2-Down against Zinan Maimane and Abdul Ebrahim. WP birdied 14 to win and despite losing the 15th, a par at 17 sent the game down the 18th. Province were unable to match their opponents’ closing par however which consigned them to a 2-Down defeat.
Josh Daniels and Tristan Boise had a tough time against Roelof Craig and Liam McKenna. After losing the 2nd, WP squared things up with a par at the 3rd but four losses in a six hole stretch from the 5th featuring pars at 5, 7, 10 and a birdie at the 8th left WP with a mountain to climb. They managed to halve the deficit by winning the 11th before making birdie at 12 but Gauteng responded with back-to-back wins at the 13th and 14th before closing out a 4&3 win.
The dynamic duo of Andries van der Vyver and Henru Walters found themselves tied with Dian Kruger and Vian Jansen Van Vuuren after both pairs won two holes each on the front-nine, Province restoring parity with 4’s at the 7th and 8th. Gauteng landed three telling blows by winning the 10th, 11th and 12th and while Province got a hole back after a spectacular eagle at 13, EP birdied the 14th to move 3-Up before a par two holes later completed a 4&2 win and an EP session clean-sweep.
There’d be WP W’s in the afternoon singles, three in all along with two halves to add respectability to the eventual scoreline. Province’s largest margin of victory belonged to Thompson who won four out of five holes against Maimane from the 9th, the exception being an 11th-hole loss, to turn a one-hole deficit into a 2-hole advantage. A comfortable win was punctuated by a par at the 15th which moved WP three holes clear in an eventual 3&2 triumph.
After holding a 2-Up advantage through four holes, Walters was tied with Jansen Van Vuuren through 11. Clearly determined to finish his week on a high, wins at the 13th and 17th secured a hard-fought 2&1 victory for the Durbanville Golf Club member.
Racing to a 5-Up lead through six against Ebrahim, Nicholas van der Vyver endured what was undoubtedly a nervy end to his Junior IPT. Losses at the 8th, 11th and 14th saw his advantage shrink to two holes before Ebrahim birdied the 17th to send the contest down 18. Fortunately for Province the players halved the 18th in par 4’s to secure their third win of the afternoon.
Daniels played out to a Tied result against McKenna. Drawing level with a birdie at 12, Daniels edged ahead after winning the 13th before four halved holes ensued. McKenna would win the last though to ensure it was honour’s even come round’s end.
Three down with four to play in the anchor match against Kruger, skipper Andries van der Vyver showed tremendous fighting spirit to birdie the 15th and 17th, sending the game down 18. A par was good enough for WP to win the last and, in so doing, earn an improbable half-point.
Johnston was unable to make any significant inroads in his match with Craig. A front-nine featuring four lost holes and a solitary win at the 5th put the Milnerton Golf Club member behind the 8-ball. He fell further adrift after losing 10 and 12 to birdies and despite winning the 14th, he couldn’t prevent a 4&3 defeat.
Stone suffered the same fate. An early win at the 2nd was undermined by losses at the 4th and 5th but the Durbanville player drew level by winning the 7th. That would be his final win of the day, however, and losses every other hole from the 8th saw him lose 4&3.
Central did WP a massive favour by winning their singles against EP 5.5-2.5 to win the fixture 7.5-4.5 and deny EP the win necessary to save them from the B-section in 2025.
Replacing EP in the A-section will be Ekhuruleni who won an astonishing promotion via game-points. Tied with Border and Kwa-Zulu Natal on 10 log points, Ekhuruleni amassed 54.5 Game-Points to Border’s 50, thus ensuring they’ll play in the top-flight next year.
Photo Credit: Supershots
