A near-capacity field of 113 golfers will line up this morning to compete in the Otago strokeplay championship over 72 holes being held at Balmacewen this weekend.
Not only is the field much larger than in recent years, but the standard is higher, with no fewer than six players with plus handicaps in the senior section.
Stuart Hope (Otago) will be competing in his first major event since emigrating to New Zealand from Brighton in the United Kingdom at the end of last year. Hope is playing off a handicap of plus 4, while the next four lowest markers are all young Southland golfers.
These include Liam Balneaves (Greenacres), David Klein ((Te Anau), Vaughan McCall (Gore) and Matthew Tautari (Queens Park).
Three years ago, Jamie Mead was a promising Otago 14-year-old from Arrowtown but he is now playing out of the Rangiora club and is the sixth player on a plus handicap, with an index of +0.6.
Cameron Beel (Otago), Cody Harper (Invercargill), Andrew Lapsley (Queenstown) and Sean Roach (Arrowtown) will all be playing off scratch.
Others with a good chance in the 39-strong senior field are Brent McEwan (St Clair), Nick Borren (Windsor) and Mark Brooks (Queenstown).
Borren finished second in his last 72-hole event at St Clair last February before moving to Christchurch to study engineering. He is in good form, having just won the Borren Cup on the Greenacres course in Nelson from 27 other golfing Borrens who included his talented cousin Tim, from Christchurch, and Frank, who has been a formidable golfer for many years.
There are 24 players in the senior B competition and 13 in the intermediate section, as well as 33 in the masters (over 40). The masters will be decided on only 18 holes each day, with a real battle between Mark Andrews (Taieri), Peter Hayes (Gleniti), Greg Johnson (St Clair), Gary Creedy (North Otago) and John Cunningham (North Otago).
Shelley Duncan, the resident pro at Balmacewen, will compete in the event as part of her preparation for the New Zealand women's open championship.
