League trophy comes all too easy for Durban Country Club in one-sided final
Captain James Buzzard said he was pleased with the result and said consistently good play from his team had been the key to success.
Durban Country Club completely outplayed Cotswold Downs at Bluff National Park last week Sunday to win this year’s KwaZulu-Natal premier league golf title.
The final score was 11-1 and no DCC player lost a game on a day where it was all too easy for the boys in red.
Foursomes were clinched 3,5-0,5 to knock out any resistance Cotswold might have had.
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They were not able to select their best team but it probably wouldn’t have made any difference.
DCC also lost out on picking the likes of Matt Saulez, Chris Woollam and a resurgent Clive Lazarus.
They really do have tremendous depth and the real final, you could argue, was in the pool games against defending champions Mount Edgecombe CC.
In the away game they lost 6,5-5,5.
It was the home game 10-2 demolition of their highly respected opponents that saw them win their pool on match points in the end and earn them a spot in the final against Cotswold Downs, who had topped the other pool.
In the foursomes, Keith Forde and Murray Gilson beat Hayden de Kock and Charlie Dell 2-up. That was a pretty good result by the newcomers (despite the loss) against two league veterans.
James Buzzard and Ashwin Krishen halved with Paul Baldocchi and Dean le Vieux.
Sean Fenger and Clayton Mansfield beat Paul Blackman and Patrick Kelly 5/3.
Broomhead brothers Jason and Jono beat Brendan Adlam and Dennis Mack 4/3.
In the singles, Krishen beat De Kock 3/2, Forde beat Dell 4/2, Buzzard beat Baldocchi 1-up, Fenger beat le Vieux 4/3, Gilson beat Kelly 3/2, Jason Broomhead beat Blackman 3/2, Jono Broomhead halved with Mack, and Mansfield beat Adlam 7/6.
Captain Buzzard said he was pleased with the result and said consistently good play from his team had been the key to success.
Looking to next year… maybe it’s time for a slight tweak in the way league is set up, to eliminate the need for a final which inevitably falls around the time of year of Champion of Champions, the Interprovincials (men and mid-amateurs) and also spring treatment.
Instead of having two pools in the premier league, make the league five teams each.
So, going by this year’s results it would be Durban CC, Cotswold Downs, Mount Edgecombe CC, Royal Durban and Maritzburg GC.
They can then play each other home and away, so eight games in total.
Although it’s only five teams, one advantage is that it will be strength-on-strength.
Most of the games should be competitive, and each game, regardless of where the team is on the log, could affect things on match points.
Relegation would be hard-fought to avoid, and you could see a situation where more of the better players make themselves available.
Continuing on… then the A league would be Kloof, Umhlali, Toti, Durban CC ‘2’ and promoted Zululand. And so on for the C and D leagues, depending on how many clubs field teams.
All leagues from A and down can continue to be allowed to use carts, which has proven popular and seen numerous older players remain playing league.
The flipside of this is that’s a bit anti-social at times, but not that bad.
The day may come when league needs to be 18 holes – and this could work well for ‘city’ clubs but not so much for those in outlying areas – but I don’t think that time is just yet.
