Southbroom Frogs take Interclub title on the hop
There was some wild weather during the tournament.
There was celebration for Southbroom, dismay for Margate and shock for Port Shepstone during the recent KwaZulu-Natal Interclub golf tournament played at the three clubs last weekend.
The matchplay finals were played at Southbroom last Sunday, in cold, windy weather.
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In the Frog division, Southbroom’s team of Gary Purtell, Jan Roos and Grant Richards triumphed 3-0 in the final over Durban Country Club.
“Why do you sound so surprised,” asked captain Purtell of reporters after relaying the score.
The real drama came in the B division, where Port Shepstone, who against the odds rolled leading qualifiers Margate 3-0 in the semi-final, lost in cruel fashion to Royal Durban in the final.
First the semi-finals: Sanjay Singh caused a very big upset, beating Elvis Khawula; Graham Fabricius predictably beat Sbu Ntozakhe, and newcomer Kirk Larsen saw off Ronnie Mtshaka.
In the final, Fabricius beat Gary van der Spuy 6/4 and Larsen lost 6/5 to Dean Stopforth. Singh was two up with two to go against Steve Young, but lost the last two holes to finish all square.
This meant a nominated player had to tee it up in a sudden-death playoff.
Fabricius was Sheppie’s man, but sudden-death it did not feel like as he watched Stopforth’s putt (once both had reached the first green in three) from another time zone take forever to roll across the green, up a slope, creep up on the cup and eventually fall into the hole.
He was stunned. “It was soul destroying, especially after my bunker shot hit the pin. Credit to Dean, I heard he holed putts like that all day! But this will sting for a long time,” said Fabricius.
In the A division Durban CC saw off archrivals Mount Edgecombe CC to win 2,5-0,5.
The club has a number of young stars but they sent veterans Sean Fenger, Murray Gilson and James Buzzard (the junior at 38 years old) into battle.
And a battle it was, especially in qualifying, where Saturday’s wind, in particular, wreaked havoc with scores.
Durban CC beat Royal Durban in the morning, with Buzzard getting them through in a playoff.
Mount Edgecombe got past Kloof, only just.
In the final, Fenger beat Jono Poppesquo 2/1, Buzzard halved with Luke van den Bergh and Gilson beat Derek Scullard 1-up.
In the Senior Frogs, Vryheid Golf Club’s Paul Kruger, Dickie Miller and Kurt Spangenberg beat eThekweni’s Fezile Sineke, Stephen Sibetha and Jerome Mbuso Hlophe to win the title.
In the alliance, the respective divisions were won by Southbroom (A), Kloof (B), Cato Ridge (Frog) and Southbroom (Senior Frog).
The two Southbroom teams comprised Gavin Sole, Kevin Murray and Cyprian Xolo and Senior Frogs Paul Lawson, Brian Jolliffe and Don Osbourn.
FAST FACTS
– 40 clubs represented
– 348 players took part
– 116 teams were involved
– 867 rounds were played
– Approximately 232 rounds on each of the three courses on Friday and Saturday
– 171 rounds at Southbroom on Sunday
– Biggest tournament of its kind in South African amateur golf – by far
* The KZN Ladies Interclub will be at Port Shepstone Country Club this weekend. Hopefully the weather will be a little kinder.
Players to watch will be the home course duo of Nicola Gutzeit and Kim Strauss, as well as Lizzie Currie (Southbroom) and Tania Lyon (Eshowe).
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