Borren (26), a structural engineer, has been instrumental in Otago’s recent success, having made the national interprovincial final in 2014 and 2015, as well as winning the SBS trophy by an impressive 28 shots last year.
There are now three from last year’s team who will not feature this year after Duncan Croudis gave up his amateur status and Brent McEwan retired from all competitive golf, after playing 100 national interprovincial games for Otago.
This leaves South Island champion Fraser MacLachlan who played at No4 last year and No5 Chris Snow as the only survivors from a successful era.
Borren has been in good form this year, with an impressive 89% winning record in the metropolitan senior A pennant series, playing most of his games at No1.
He featured on the national scene earlier this year when he held a one-shot lead in the New Zealand strokeplay championship with one hole to play, only to hit a branch and kick out of bounds on the Shirley course’s final hole.
"The only reason I have been playing is that I have had an eye on embarking on a professional career," Borren said.
"I realise that it is not something I want to do at the moment."
Borren qualified for the New Zealand Open earlier this year and competed at The Hills.
"I thoroughly enjoyed playing in the Open but the guys I was playing with were really good and I realise it is a very tough environment."
There are plenty of contenders to fill the vacancies and their first chance to stake a claim will come at the Chisholm Links Open tomorrow.
