Umkomaas hosts friendliest Interclub

One hundred and eighty players congregated at Umkomaas Golf Club over the past week to compete in the 101st KwazZulu-Natal Ladies Interclub.
Originally scheduled to be hosted in 2020, the event kicked off a year later thanks to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Renown as ‘the friendliest club’, Umkomaas did a wonderful job playing host, with members old and new, pulling together to manage the many logistics required to ensure the ladies enjoyed themselves both on and off the course.

Competed over three days, the ladies Interclub Foursomes format is a real test of friendship. Gold and Silver Division play medal whilst the Bronze Division competes with Stableford.

The course was in spectacular condition despite a few wet patches due to the constant rain in the days running up to the tournament.

Thanks must go to Devlyn Fraser and the ground staff who presented a wonderful course, with the greens in exceptional condition. The players were all complimentary, despite many struggling to adjust to the windy, coastal conditions.

Mom and daughter duo, Liezl and Anika Smit from Vryheid Golf Club, continued their good Foursomes form from the recent IPT tournament, and played steady golf to emerge victorious as 2021 KZN Interclub champions.

Although they were disappointed with their two 81s in the first two rounds, it was a pleasure to watch them burn up the course on day three with an excellent level par 73 finish.

This is a truly talented golfing family, with older daughter currently playing college golf in the US, and Granny competing in the Silver division.

Umkomaas pairing of Sabiha Hulley and Natalie Singer were favourites to win the Silver Division but a terrible score of 93 on day one saw them languishing in seventh place, nine shots behind the co-leaders Ladysmith and Port Shepstone on Thursday evening.

Determined to forget the rubbish from the day before, the local lasses opted to switch up the tees on Friday and attack the flags.

The tactic paid off and the ladies posted 81 on day two, meeting the low scores of the Gold division in the process. The 12-shot turnaround was enough to see Natalie and Sabiha shoot to top spot in the Silver Division and get themselves seeded into the final flight, with the Gold division.

With a slim lead on their nearest competitors, the Umkomaas pair’s nerves seemed to play havoc with both players, in most uncharacteristic fashion, each hitting one out of bounds on the first nine.

With three double-bogeys on the card by the time they reached the 8th tee box, the ladies pulled themselves together, determined to focus on playing positive, rather than defensive golf. A solid par on the 8th was followed by a superb chip-in birdie by Sabiha on the 9th and the momentum swung.

Friday’s form seemed to return on the back nine and the ladies kept their cool, making several clutch putts to finish the day on 85. Their never say die attitude paid dividends and they emerged victorious by three shots from nearest rivals, Kim Strauss and Sandi Burger of Port Shepstone Country Club.

This is the second time the pair has won the Silver Division, having first lifted the trophy at Dundee in 2017.

The Bronze division was hotly contested with 57 of the 90 teams competing in the Stableford division. Port Shepstone’s Yzelle Greyling and Debbie Stewart, posted an excellent 37 points on day one and held the lead to the end despite only carding 32 points on day two, as they finished strongly with a total of 104 points.

Umkomaas pair Evija McKelvey and Lesa Vergottini scored 37 points on day two to take the daily prize honours and finished fourth overall in the division with 96 points.

Second and third place were won by Southbroom teams Allyson Thomas and Shirley Jeffrey (99 points) and Irene Schanda and Rita Kinghorn (97 points) respectively, proving the strength of the south coast region once again.

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