Jason Gilliver (Umdoni Park) was part of this year’s KwaZulu-Natal golf team which came up a fraction short in terms of winning the B section at the South African IPT held at San Lameer Country Club recently. “This year’s IPT was a bit different, obviously with the whole Covid story, so a lot of the procedures changed,” he said.
Being in the B section, KZN teed off on the 10th each day. KZN won four games and lost one, to Eastern Province on day two, with EP going on to gain promotion back into the A section next year. Western Province won the A section.
Jason felt the course played ‘tough’, with the greens firm and pins tucked away. “It made it a putting game as it was difficult to get it close to the hole. I didn’t have a great week with the flatstick and let one or two games go due to this. But on a positive, I hit the ball the best I have,” he said.
However, San Lameer, traditionally a cart course, took its toll physically on all the players who had to go on foot for the entire week. “The walk was another story, there were no shuttles for the players, so we had to walk from the 17th green to the 18th tee and from there to the 1st green which was not that much fun!”
Overall, he really enjoyed the tournament, despite some inclement weather. “We had a super captain in Gavin Sole, amazing manager Ivan Curlewis and a good bunch of guys who love to play golf.”
He played foursomes at number one with Chris Erasmus (Prince’s Grant). They won four and lost one. In singles, he played at two, winning two, losing two and halving one.
Looking ahead, Jason is starting his studies in psychology, with an eye to becoming a sport psychologist. “I’ll be hitting the books, but will always make time to play golf as well, for sure,” he said.
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