MyPE

Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Top Woman Golfers Primed for IPT Links Test at Humewood

By

The country’s leading women amateurs are gearing up for one of golf’s biggest challenges when the South African Women’s Interprovincial takes place at the Humewood links in Gqeberha next
week.

This annual event, incorporating 12 teams and 48 players, will be played at the Eastern Cape’s famed links course for the first time and there’ll be a silent prayer among many of them that the wind behaves itself from September 24 to 27.

However, Humewood general manager and club pro Brendon Timm has warned that the region is heading into one of its windiest stretches of the year, so the players might have to call on all their mental fortitude to go through the week unscathed.

In welcoming the women interprovincial players for the first time, Timm said they were delighted to be chosen as the venue for the country’s major team event.

“We are excited to have the women’s IPT here and it will be followed a week later by the SA men’s mid-amateur IPT, which just shows how Humewood has grown in the public eye that there are requests to host these sorts of events,” he said.

“The ladies have already been out in their numbers to go through a few practice rounds at the course, and to experience the weather and to understand the way of playing this links layout.

“Given the conditions which can exist at this time of the year, they will face a true test of links golf.”

While Central Gauteng will defend their title in the A section, Eastern Province will be looking to make a statement in the five-team B section of the IPT.

EP Women’s Golf president Ilze Botha said they were aiming to doing well on their home turf and had been able to introduce a measure of consistency by naming the same team which competed in last year’s event at Umhlali Country Club in Ballito, just north of Durban.

The players are Erin Brinkman (PE Golf Club), Izzy Obray (St Francis Links), Shenè du Toit (Humewood) and Zahn Scholtz (PE Golf Club), and they have been ranked third in their division.

“We have two young schoolgirls in Erin and Izzy, who were only 16 when they played last year,” Botha said.

“They actually handled it pretty well and are starting to get used to the big competitions, so we have big hopes for the team in the B section.

“But there are some very strong teams out there so it will be a week of really good competition.” Central Gauteng were unbeaten in the A section last year, the only marginal blemish being a draw in their clash with host province KwaZulu-Natal.

Naturally they have been installed as the top-ranked side in the A section, but KZN and Western Province, with their knowledge of coastal conditions, and Gauteng North will also be in the mix. After winning the B section last year, North West will be trying hard to keep their spot in the premier division.

The sections are:

  • A Division: 1 Central Gauteng, 2 KwaZulu-Natal, 3 Western Province, 4 Gauteng North, 5 Southern Cape, 6 Boland, 7 North West.
  • B Division: 1 Ekurhuleni, 2 Mpumalanga, 3 Eastern Province, 4 Limpopo, 5 Border.

The opening day fixtures on September 24 are:

  • A Division: KZN v Southern Cape v North West, Central Gauteng v Boland, Western Province v Gauteng North
  • B Division: Mpumalanga v Limpopo, Ekurhuleni v Border
The following two tabs change content below.

Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.