There is an air of confidence that the recently selected Otago women's golf team will lift its performance in the Toro national interprovincial on the Westown course in New Plymouth next month.
In recent years the Otago women have languished near the bottom of the field but there are signs that this team can lift Otago's profile this year.
The team is a mixture of youth and experience and has been boosted by the inclusion of two former No1 players in Jo Hicks-Beach and Susan Greig.
Hicks-Beach will play at No 2 and Greig will anchor the team at No5 and will be the first out on the course each round to get the team off to a good start.
The two younger golfers, Abigael Crawford and Annabel Evans, have already experienced a Toro tournament and have shown good form in matches this year.
At No1, Crawford had a 50% winning record in the South Island teams tournament on the Russley course in Christchurch earlier this month.
Evans will play at No3 in the same position she won all of her four matches in the South Island event.
The St Hilda's Collegiate pupil has made vast strides in the last 12 months and can hopefully repeat her South Island form in New Plymouth.
Chisholm Links' Rachel Lissaman will fill the No 4 bert.
Raewyn Devlin (Toko) has been named as the reserve after notching three wins at No 7 in the South Island event.
It will not be an easy task for the Otago golfers. After playing Aorangi in the first round the team meets three heavyweights in Canterbury, Waikato and Auckland.
The team will play Southland in round five - a team which Otago has beaten twice already this year - before finishing with Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay on Thursday afternoon, followed by a bye in the final round on Friday.
