Thrills and spills in Dundee for league players
A cracking tee shot from Sabiha left Natalie with the opportunity to win the hole on a birdie after the opposition made bogey.
The second round of the inter-region finals took place in Dundee this past week. The South Coast Region (SCR) had both teams taking part.
SCR Umdoni, captained by the region’s president Leanne Parsons, was competing for the opportunity to progress to the championship finals.
SCR Mkuhla, captained by Natalie Singer, was competing in the Plate division, having lost in the first round held at Victoria Country Club in June.
All eight inter-region teams (64 players) converged on Dundee, with first round Betterball matchplay scheduled for Saturday afternoon, followed by foursomes on Sunday morning.
The glorious warm weather was welcomed by the players who had envisioned being frozen after last week’s snow.
The course was playing in typical winter conditions with loads of run on the fairways and the inevitable sideways bounce off the hard ground.
The Mkuhla team played the composite side, “President’s Team” and were up against it, having to give shots across all four pairings.
Saturday’s Betterball matches were tight, but three of the pairings secured wins.
Sunday’s foursomes however proved an uphill battle as the SCR Mkuhla girls struggled to fight off the handicap advantage.
Needing just a single win to go through to the finals, all eyes were on the number one and two pairings whose matches were still alive on the 17th.
Jenny Hulley and Thanda Zama did their best taking their match all the way to the 18th, but a great putt from the president’s team saw them sneak a 1-up victory at the last.
After having to give eight shots, number one pairing Natalie Singer and Sabiha Bacaus-Hulley went four down early on but fought their way back to dormie, with another shot-hole looming on the long par 3 eighth.
A cracking tee shot from Sabiha left Natalie with the opportunity to win the hole on a birdie after the opposition made bogey.
All eyes were on Natalie’s 8-foot sidehill putt as the ball ran confidently to the hole, sadly slipping past by sheer millimetres, ending the team’s hopes of qualifying for the finals.
SCR Umdoni were up against Durban Swallows, and their combined pairings worked wonders with all four Betterball matches going the way of SCR Umdoni on Saturday afternoon meaning they took the lead with 8-0.
The ladies had their work cut out on Sunday with most of their games tight, finishing up on the last couple of holes. Except for a loss for their number two pairing, SCR Umdoni secured six of the remaining eight points, to triumph 14-2.
SCR Umdoni will now play Midlands in the finals to be held at Mount Edgecombe on October 10.
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