Historic win for premier league golfers
The local team has had an ideal start to the season, winning the first two games.
THE Southern KwaZulu-Natal golf team pulled off a historic win against Royal Durban in Durban in premier league action last Sunday. The South Coast team triumphed 6,5-5,5 to win for the first time at this venue.
It certainly was a hard-fought thing, with four of the singles matches going to the wire, down the 18th. The morning foursomes were halved two apiece.
Elvis Khawula and Altaaf Bux lost their game 4/3 to Ruben Coetzer and Calvin Steinhobel, but Jan McDermott and David Rush won 2/1 against Lynton Beckett and Kuven Nadrajah.
Phil le Roux and Nishalin Nelson lost 1-down to Barry McGhee and John Barnes, while stalwarts Gavin Sole and Sean Baker levelled matters with a 4/3 win against Brad Davison and Richard Marrier d’Unienville.
So it was all to play for in the afternoon singles.
Rush fought back to win 1-up against Nadrajah after missing some short putts in the middle of the round. Khawula didn’t have his best game, losing 5/4 to Beckett.
Bux found his form after hitting it skew in the morning, and he beat McGhee 2/1. McDermott showed his class, striking his irons beautifully, to close out his game against Barnes 5/4.
At the top of the order Sole lost 4/3 to Steinhobel. He almost withdrew after experiencing painful back spasms (a la Tiger Woods) but gutsed it out until the bitter end. “You have to stop sacrificing me at the top of the order,” he joked afterwards.
So with three games still out on the course, it was 5-4 to Southern KZN. Watched by a small crowd, Nelson made a fantastic sand save for birdie on the 18th to take his match 1-up against Marrier d’Unienville.
Le Roux semi-frogged a chip from just off the green and two-putted to keep things friendly with Davison and so ensure the half needed for overall victory. “The match was won by then,” he said, in defence of his less-than-spectacular chip.
The players then watched as Baker finished his game against Coetzer. He lost 1-down but his teammates didn’t immediately let him know that the match had been won already.
His facial expression changed from that of a seriously focused (stressed?) golfer, to one ready to party when he heard the score before having to putt for birdie!
* The B team unfortunately lost 9-3 to Umhlali at Papwa Sewgolum in the central C league. Only Ronnie Mtshaka could earn a point in the singles.
Foursomes points were won by Gary Purtell and Jarrod van Wyk, as well as Gavin van Wyk and Grant Richards.
