Wellington and Auckland are favoured to win the Freyberg trophy after posting four wins in the first five rounds.
Both teams have had their byes and share the honours on countback with 17 games each.
Defending champion Auckland was too strong for the Otago masters (over-40), team winning all five matches in the fifth round of the Freyberg tournament on the Whitford Park course in Auckland yesterday.
At No1, former national and Canterbury representative Brent Paterson hit 16 of 17 greens before beating Andrew Hobbs 3 and 1.
Stephen Hitchcox made a slow start and was four behind James Gardiner after the first seven holes.
Hitchcox won the ninth hole but Gardiner responded by birdieing 14 and 15 to finish the match with three holes to spare.
Otago No3 Simon Hollyer had a tight game against Scott Robertson, winning the 16th and 17th holes to be one behind playing the final hole.
Hollyer looked set to snatch a half when Robertson encountered tree trouble on the decider but he recovered well and two-putted to keep the lead.
No4 Ken Shaw came up against former New Zealand tennis star Brett Stephen, who won all of his games on the Chisholm Links last year.
Stephen repeated his 2016 form with birdies at one, three, four and six, putting Shaw 3-down despite being 1-under-par.
Shaw fought back winning 10, 11 and 13 but came up short and lost on the 16th green.
Otago No5 Gary Creedy was square with the card at the turn but still trailed former national representative Michael Barltrop by two.
Barltrop's experience showed with a steady homeward nine giving Creedy little chance to get back into the game.
Otago is bottom with no points and three games but should have an easier time today and is expected to get some points and games against Hawkes Bay this morning and Poverty Bay-East Coast this afternoon.
