Bay of Plenty golfer Ben Taylor will take winning form into this week's South Island Strokeplay Championship at St Clair.
Taylor won a three-way play-off for the Southland Strokeplay Championship at Otatara on Sunday, sinking a birdie putt on the first hole to edge out Cody Harper (Invercargill) and Kieran Muir (Omokoroa).
The trio had finished tied for first on 2-under 286 for the 72-hole event.
Taylor, who plays off a plus one handicap out of the Omokoroa club, shot rounds of 71, 69, 73 and 73 at Otatara.
Last month he finished down the field in the North Island Amateur championships at the Hutt course in Wellington, won by Hastings' Nick Gillespie, who is competing this week at St Clair.
But soon after that, Taylor shot a 73 at Russley, Christchurch, when trying to qualify for the New Zealand Open at The Hills.
Muir, a clubmate of Taylor's, was equal second to Gillespie at Hutt last month so will be one of the form runners when the South Island event starts on Thursday.
St Clair's Brent McEwan finished equal fourth on Sunday with Vaughan McCall (Gore), the reigning North Island under 19 title-holder, and Otago's Thomas Facer, the trio recording 290.
McEwan spoiled his chances with final rounds of 73 and 75 but beat Queenstown's Scott Prince in a play-off to win the Otago strokeplay title at Balmacewen last month.
He will be hoping to go well on his home track this week.
Matt Tautari (Queens Park) and Liam Balneaves (Invercargill), who are both competing at St Clair, were next home at Otatara, on 291.
