Heartbreak for Southbroom golfers

THIS year’s KZN Interclub wasn’t the best-ever for teams from the South Coast.

Only Southbroom’s B team (comprising Chris Poole, Sipho Shusha and David Rush) managed to make it to the matchplay stage of the event.

The tournament was held at Umdoni Park, Selborne and Umkomaas, with the finals at Umdoni Park.

Southbroom led the qualifying after two unbelievably windy days – and incredibly – ended up with a lower qualifying score than the top A division team.

This could have been due to somehow having two early morning times, and so avoiding the absolute worst of the wind, but even at 8am, it was pumping.

Qualifying rounds were held at Umdoni and Umkomaas.

Shusha was probably the star of the show, except for one meltdown on the 17th at Umdoni, where he made an eight.

The hole is a tough one, but not so much when it’s downwind.

Shusha was battling a shoulder injury caused by chopping sugar cane but a trip to the chemist to get some anti-inflammatories would sort that out for the next day.

However, it felt twice as sore when he fired two into the bush and had a quadruple on the card in no time.

On day two at Umkomaas, Poole contrived to miss a putt of about one inch long. “It might have been slightly shorter,” he said.

Whether or not he actually lined it up to see which way it broke he wouldn’t say but he manged to see the funny side, and still break 80.

In Poole’s defence perhaps, the greens were perhaps not lightning fast – and he is a ‘touch’ putter.

In the matchplay, Southbroom took on Ethekweni, who scraped in thanks to one of Bluff National Park’s players making a 15 on Umkomaas’s 18th hole, on a day it played downwind.

Shusha had no trouble dispatching Jimmy Ngcobo 4/3.

Rush won his first hole when Cedric Kunene made a messy double bogey, and thought he may be in for an easy game. He was wrong.

Kunene then reeled off six birdies in the next 15 holes, showing a putting touch to be envied. The match was over on the 16th, score 4/2.

This left Poole in a titanic struggle against Muzi Khumalo, a former football pro, with a home-made golf swing.

The match was all square going down the last. After a great drive, Poole struck a 3-wood that nearly went in the hole for an albatross two, but trickled through the green and ended up in an awkward lie in the bunker.

Khumalo, after reloading from the tee, found his first ball and chopped it out of the ankle deep stuff.

He then wedged to about 15 foot. Poole’s bunker escape was a touch hot and it slid past about 18 foot.

His putt just missed – and Khumalo knocked his in, to the surprise and delight of his teammates.

“Never looked like missing, did it?” said Poole, with a wry grin.

The overall winners were Royal Durban (A division), Kloof (B division), Umkomaas (Frog) and Athlone (Senior Frog).
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