Umdoni Park trio in the zone at Eshowe
This was enough to secure the title for 2021, with the lead too big for other teams to be able to catch.
Southern KwaZulu-Natal reclaimed the KZN Interzone Country Districts shield with a commanding performance at Eshowe Hills Country Club Club last weekend.
Three Umdoni Park Golf Club players were very much in the mix, namely Jason Gilliver, Jack Cubitt and Mitchel Hampson.
Jack’s twin Luke is settling in nicely to varsity life in Stellenbosch.
Jason won the strokeplay championship on the first day, scoring 71 and 69 to defend the title he won at Dundee last year.
He has won it three times in total.
He almost aced the 16th hole, with the ball plugging in the soggy green less than a centimetre – he would argue millimetre – from the cup.
One day maybe he will have his first hole-in-one.
Southern KZN won the team strokeplay sessions, in the morning and afternoon.
On day two they faced a double-header against defending champions Ilembe Golf Federation and East Griqualand.
They won both comfortably, 6-2 and 6,5-1,5 respectively. And then very nearly came unstuck against Zululand in the afternoon.
Two fighting halves from Jack and Mitch proved just enough to see the team maintain an unbeaten run, winning 4,5-3,5.
This was enough to secure the title for 2021, with the lead too big for other teams to be able to catch.
Jason was also able to then properly celebrate his 24th birthday, a highlight being a visit from his girlfriend Simone van der Ryst and good ‘bud’ Mikhail van Brakel.
The final morning saw a dominant showing, with an 8-0 drubbing of Northern KZN.
So, the end result was a full house of 14 points for the tournament.
Aside from Jason, Jack and Mitch, the team comprised Gavin Sole, David Rush and Gary Purtell (all Southbroom GC), Jean-Marc Bouic (Selborne Park) and Kai Hielckert (Port Shepstone CC).
The team was captained by Jean-Marc for the first time, while Kai made his debut, aged only 16 years old.
The tournament will return to Eshowe for the next two years, at least.
The Umdoni Park trio can now look forward to even more golf, with the South African Country Districts tournament to be played at East London Golf Club from May 10 to 14.
Jason, Jack and Mitch have all been selected, as has Gavin.
The other four players are Chris Erasmus and Tom Lovett (both Prince’s Grant), Koenie Erasmus and Thabiso Magwaza (both Umhlali CC).
Before that though, there is a league game against Bluff National Park at Bluff on April 18.
Thereafter, the KZN Open Strokeplay will take place at Selborne Park from May 21 to 23.
The dates for the Handicap League have been released and are as follows:
May 16 at Margate CC, June 27 at Southbroom, July 18 at Umdoni Park, August 15 at Selborne Park, September 19 at Port Shepstone CC.
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