Otago retained the South Island Masters (over-40) title, emerging with three team wins and 12 games on the Lower Waitaki course in Oamaru at the weekend.
The Otago sextet started with a 5-1 win over Southland on Saturday morning, followed by a narrow 3-2 win over Aorangi in the afternoon.
It all came down to yesterday morning’s clash with Canterbury, in which Otago’s Andrew Hobbs (No 2), Gary Creedy (No 4) and Ken Shaw (No 6) all won.
Canterbury took the honours at No 1 and No 5 with the outcome decided on the battle of the No 3 golfers.
Simon Hollyer became the hero of the Otago team when he fought back from two down with four holes to play to square his match with James Robb.This fightback gave Otago three points for the win. Without it, Canterbury would have prevailed with a superior game tally.
For Otago, Creedy and Shaw emerged with three wins each, while Hobbs was unbeaten during the weekend with two wins and a half with Aorangi’s Regan Stills. Canterbury’s Blair Dibley (No 1) and Aaron Forsyth (No 5) were the only other golfers in the event to be unbeaten with three wins each.
The South Island event was the final outing before the Otago golfers compete in the national (over-40) tournament at Whitford Park during the second week of November.
