With 6.5 points and 28 games Wellington came in second, while North Harbour finished strongly to claim third.
There were five players who were unbeaten during the nine competitive rounds but "player of the tournament" went to North Harbour No1 Mike Leeper.
James Gardiner, former tennis star Brett Steven (both Auckland), Steve Heberley (Bay of Plenty) and Malcolm Gullery (Wellington) were the other players to emerge unbeaten.
After controversy about the condition of the course some months ago, the links course was in immaculate condition for the event and the greens in particular drew praise from the players.
The Otago men’s team had two tight games yesterday, going down to Northland 2 to 3 in the morning but finishing with a 3 to 2 win over Southland in the afternoon.
Otago No1 Andrew Hobbs had a tight tussle with Northland’s Lynn Tugaga in the morning but finished strongly, driving the par-4 16th green for a birdie to go one ahead and finishing the match one hole later when his opponent made a bogey 5.
In the afternoon, Hobbs made a great start to be four under par and four ahead of Southland’s Karl Mariu after the first six holes.
Starting at the 13th, he had a faultless round with no bogeys and birdies on 14, 15, 16, 18, 3 and 7 to win 7 and 6.At No2, Stephen Hitchcox had two matches that went the whole distance, losing to Iain Power in the morning and beating Craig O’Rorke in the afternoon.
Against Northland’s Scott Wilson, Peter Rae made a slow start and was four behind after the first six holes. He did not recover, losing 4 and 3.
Rae stood down in the afternoon, allowing Gary Creedy to play the final round, with John McIntee promoted to No3 for the match against Southland.
He responded to lead by three after the first six holes and went on to post a win over Glen Sutherland with four holes to play.
McIntee also contributed in the morning round, at No4, beating Gavin Ashwell after turning around an early deficit.
Creedy played at No4 in the afternoon and after a tight front nine lost the 17th to give former Southland No1 Gary Radka the match.
Stephen Horn lost some early holes to Northland’s Bob Shirley and found himself four down with six holes to play.
