Western Province pulled a rabbit out of the hat with a sensational afternoon singles performance against Boland and North-West to retain their A-section status for 2025 while Central Gauteng defended their A-section SA Women’s IPT title at Humewood Golf Club on Friday.
Western Province (4.5) – Boland (1.5)
The morning foursomes against Boland began brightly for Province as Zayaan Hendricks and Odette Booysen won the opening hole against Anne-Isabel Scheltema and Erica Chen with a par before fighting back from losses at the 4th and 6th with a birdie at 7 and par at 8 which restored their 1-up lead. Boland though fired back, winning the 9th and 11th in pars before a birdie-2 at 12 moved them 2-up. Province reduced the deficit with a par at 14 but Boland put the game to bed with wins at the following two holes for a 3&2 win.
An opening hole loss for Bobbi Brown and Kaitlyn van de Vyver elicited an immediate response against Lee-Ann van der Merwe and Kyla van der Merwe. Three successive halves would follow before Province broke the deadlock in spectacular fashion with four wins on the spin highlighted by birdies at the 6th and 7th. Boland chipped away at the deficit with wins at the 10th, 12th, 15th and 17th to send the match down 18. Province’s 5 at the last saw them home by the finest of margins as their opponents could do no better than 6, earning Province a much-needed full point.
WP’s women came out firing in the afternoon. Playing in the anchor match, captain Brown earned the biggest singles win against Boland with three wins in the first five holes, preceding five wins in as many holes from the 8th. In all, Brown won 8 of the first 12 holes with her sole loss coming to a par at the 6th, thus sealing a comfortable 7&6 win.
Van de Vyver meanwhile registered a wonderful 5&4 win over Lee-Ann van der Merwe which will no doubt fill the 14-year-old with confidence going forward. Like Brown she won three of her first five holes, adding further W’s at 7 and 9 through a birdie and par. The Royal Cape member refused van der Merwe entry into the game on the back-9, cancelling out losses at the 10th and 11th with back-to-back 4s at 13 and 14 to close out the win.
Booysen accounted for Province’s final full-point against Boland. Turning 3-up after four wins in the first six holes, Booysen lost the 10th but immediately restored her 3-up advantage via a par at 11. A birdie-2 at 14 was Booysen’s final win of the match before a halved 15th confirmed the 4&3 triumph.
Hendricks had been in control of her match with Chen, standing on the 15th tee with a 2-hole advantage. Chen though won the par-5 with a birdie and squared the match with one to play after a bogey-5 at 17. An 18th hole halved in pars, halved the contest as Province completed a resounding 4.5-1.5 win on the day.
Western Province (3) – North-West (3)
Western Province staged a phenomenal fightback to draw their tie with North-West 3-3 and in so doing ensure A-section survival.
While Booysen and Hendricks started well with a 1st hole win against Crystal janse van Rensburg and Elru Botha, there would be five successive losses before their next win at the 7th. Although losses to 4s at the 9th and 11th were offset by wins at both 13 and 14, a loss at 15 to a par meant there was no preventing a 4&3 defeat.
2-up after a win at he 14th in their match with Jaime Meth and Maegan Webster, Brown and Van de Vyver lost the 15th to a par while a par at 16 wasn’t good enough for the half. Both sides had trouble with the par-5 17th but North-West went 1-up via a bogey-6 before a par at 18 meant a 2-up win over Province.
What a difference a few minutes and playing one’s own ball can make… Province were a different side in the afternoon when they desperately needed to be.
Booysen set the tone with five wins and just one loss in her first six holes against Webster. It was one way traffic on the whole though and Booysen finished her week by winning the 10th with a 5 and a par at 12 before a 6&5 win was punctuated with a 13th halved in pars.
Brown took care of Botha by the same margin. the North West player had no answer to Brown’s wins at the 2nd, 4th and 5th. Though Botha stemmed the flow of WP W’s with four halved holes in a row, she couldn’t prevent Brown sweeping holes 10-12. After fighting a balky putter for much of the week, Brown converted an eagle chance at 11 before making a 2 at the par-3 12th which capped a dominant display.
Hendricks dispatched Meth 3&2. Setting a great tone by winning the 1st, 4th and 5th holes, Hendricks was unperturbed by losses at the 6th and 7th holes. The Atlantic Beach player would go on to win 9, 10 and 11 in 4s which rendered a Meth win at 14 inconsequential in what was a comfortable victory.
Van de Vyver was on the wrong side of a 3&2 result against Janse van Rensburg. The North-West player held a vice-like grip on the game throughout, easing to a 3-up advantage after 11 via unanswered wins at 3, 8 and 11. Van de Vyver did manage to get a hole back at the 14th but a loss two holes later cosigned her to defeat.
Having started the day in a perilous position on the log, WP should be applauded for staving off potential relegation with a phenomenal singles display to wind up 5th on the 7-team log. Instead it was Boland who got relegated to the B-section. They’ll be replaced in the A-section by Mpumalanga who won promotion after eclipsing Eastern Province 18.5-15 on game-points.
Central Gauteng meanwhile defended their A-section crown after an unbeaten week at Humewood capped by a 5-1 demolition of KwaZulu-Natal.
Photo: The Western Province Women’s IPT tam. Credit: GolfRSA