THE KwaZulu-Natal mid amateurs are expected to give golfers in the province something to smile about when the South African Mid Amateur Interprovincial takes place at Durban Country Club next week.
While the juniors, U23s, country districts, women and men’s teams are all in the B section, the mid amateurs buck this trend and will realistically start among the favourites when action gets under way on October 14.
There are a number of reasons for this: they’re a settled team for the most part; it’s at home (and Durban CC) is traditionally somewhat daunting for visiting teams, especially if the wind blows; and well, the KZN mid amateurs are just very good.
At least three of them could make the main team if they made this a priority.
Other than that, the they have a great team spirit and this has played a role in their success in the past, particularly when they won in 2011 and 2009.
But captain Murray Gilson wasn’t getting ahead of himself, saying that the other teams were very strong. However, he hinted that they could struggle on the greens, especially if they were cut down somewhat.
The mid-amateurs played a warm up game against a fairly formidable Durban CC ‘pick up’ team that included Eric Ndwandwe and Ryan Birnie. The mid-ams won comfortably, so that was both a relief and a promising sign.
The foursomes pairings will be see former professionals Lyall McNeill and Bradley Davison spearhead the attack.
Sean Fenger will team up with Elton James, who played for the men’s team at the regular SA Interprovincial this year.
Gilson will play with Keith Forde, with David Brown showing Brendan Adlam, on debut, the ropes.
The singles order hasn’t quite been finalised but should look something like this: McNeill, Davison, James, Brown, Gilson, Fenger, Forde and Adlam.
“Hopefully we can pull out another win, we’ve worked hard. We’ll see,” said Gilson. The manager is once again Neil Champion.
* The next IGT event is at Cotswold Downs on October 15 and 16. Enter online at www.igtgolf.org.
Drikus van der Walt won the recent event at Durban CC, followed by Steven van Heerden, Darryn Myers, Jason Reardon and Darren Gerrard.
This was Van der Walt’s second win after winning the inaugural event at Cotswold Downs.
Myers currently tops the Order of Merit.
* The Maritzburg Open will take place at Maritzburg Golf Club on October 27.
A week later the Southern KZN Open will be played at Selborne Park.
