Gauteng North survive final round assault

GAUTENG North survived a final round onslaught from Ekurhuleni to lift their second successive South African under-23 interprovincial golf title, while KwaZulu-Natal secured a popular promotion to the A division at Royal Durban at the weekend.

The East Rand team managed to ruin Gauteng North's undefeated run at this year's team championship with a 7-5 victory, but it was all too little, too late.

The champions began the final round with three points in hand and, despite the defeat, held out for victory on eight points.

Second-placed Central Gauteng defeated Limpopo 7-5 to finish second in the standings, edging Ekurhuleni to third place on game points.

Western Province took fourth on the log after beating North West Province 8-4.

KwaZulu-Natal mowed down Southern Cape to win the B division to the delight of the home crowd.

The local heroes took a two-point lead into the final round and completed an undefeated run when they outplayed the Garden Route side 9-3 to seal their promotion.

Meanwhile, Boland held off Eastern Province 6.5-5.5 to tie Southern Cape and Free State, who beat Mpumalanga 8-4.

Although all three teams finished with six points, Boland took second on 33.5 games points and Southern Cape, on 29.5 points, edged out Free State for third place by one games point.

EP ended fifth, ahead of Mpumalanga.