Ekurhuleni aiming for the top
Two State Mines Country Club juniors are included in the Ekurhuleni team that are battling it out in the A-Section.
The crème de la crème of South African amateur golf are in action in the 57th Premier South African Inter-Provincial Championship, sponsored by Tempest, at Bryanston Country Club from September 18 to September 22.
Two State Mines Country Club juniors, Casey Jarvis (reigning English boys u-14 champion) and Vaughan van Deventer, are included in the Ekurhuleni team (last year’s runners-up) that are battling it out in the A-Section.
The team also has 2017 English Mens Stroke Play champion Kyle McClatchie, Dimension Data Junior Open u-15 Challenge winner Nash de Klerk, Yurav Premlall (fresh from a Top 20 finish in his international debut at the Italian International u-16 Championship), the firing power from proven winners Angus Ellis-Cole, Aneurin Gounden and Jordan Burnand, who got the nod when the country’s top-ranked junior Jayden Schaper made the International Team for the Junior Presidents Cup.
“This is arguably the youngest squad we’ve ever fielded at the SA IPT but they are a talented bunch of fighters,” said Ekurhuleni president Martin Saayman.
“Yurav and Casey are 14 and Nash is only 13 years and eight months old. They are younger than Ernie Els was when he represented Eastern Transvaal 33 years ago. Kyle is just 20. Aneurin and Vaughan are 19, Jordan is 17 and at 22, Angus is the old man on the team.
“But the rankings tell us that age is not an issue. Kyle leads the open amateur rankings, while Yurav, Casey and Nash occupy the top three spots in the South African Golf Association u-15 junior rankings.
“We place a huge premium on development at Ekurhuleni Golf Union and experience is the best way to help players evolve, mature and improve. All these players earned their places on the team and the right to compete against the best talent in South Africa,” said Saayman.
Central Gauteng and Western Province have monopolised the A-Section in the country’s largest national team championship.
The host union has won six times and Western Province has racked up seven victories since 2000.
