Otago warmed up for the big dance with some promising efforts at the South Island interprovincial in Christchurch at the weekend.
Neither the men’s nor women’s teams could stop Canterbury winning both titles at the Russley and Harewood clubs, but there was not much in it.
Otago finished second in the men’s tournament on 23 points (Canterbury had 25.5), and the Otago women were third on 11 points (Canterbury had 17.5, and Aorangi 12.5), as both prepared for the New Zealand interprovincial to be held on the same courses.
Jakob Bleach, Troy Scott and Ben Patston all had a perfect record of four wins from four matches for the Otago men at the weekend.
Young star Noah Novacek also impressed on debut with three wins and a half.
Otago swept Aorangi 8-0 and beat Tasman 7-1, and were held to 4-4 draws by both Canterbury and Southland.
The match against Southland was not looking flash at one stage.
Bleach beat Ben Munro 7&6, Patston downed George Prendergast 3&2, and both Novacek (against Brett Dobbie) and Duncan Croudis (against Matt Crawford) halved their matches.
But when Tegan Proudfoot beat Will McLauchlan 1-up, Justin Morris defeated Parker Aluesi 1-up, and Liam Hewitta ccounted for Ricky Kang 3&2, Southland sniffed victory.
Scott made a clutch birdie on the 18th to claim a 1-up win over Liam Balneaves and seal the 4-4 result.
Otago were battling after the morning round against Canterbury — having five teams in the tournament means the matches are split — and were losing the tie 3-1.
Three of the four afternoon matches went Otago’s way, and Kang narrowly missed a late putt that could have meant team victory.
"It was a grandstand finish but Canterbury got the chocolates," Croudis said.
"It was awesome preparation for nationals — super positive — and pretty encouraging for the team, I reckon."
The Otago women beat Tasman 5.5-2.5 and had losses against Canterbury (5.5-2.5) and Aorangi (5-3).
Abby Crawford, Helen Henshall, Anahera Koni, Yoonae Jeong and Amber Boyce all had wins against Tasman, while Tracey Storer halved her match.
Boyce and Storer grabbed wins and Koni a half against Canterbury, and Storer, Koni and Jeong had wins against Aorangi.
Many of the golfers will be in action at the Otago matchplay at Balmacewen this weekend.
Some will also head to Titirangi a week later for the New Zealand Amateur, their last chance to impress before the five-strong Otago teams are named for the New Zealand interprovincial in December.
