Otago has beaten Southland twice this year, winning the Salisbury Cup for the first time since 2010.
The team finished second behind Canterbury in the South Island event, accumulating four points and 16½ games in a much improved performance compared with recent years.
The team includes two former No 1 players: Jo Hicks-Beach at No 2 and Susan Greig, who will be first on the course each round at No 5. Hicks-Beach won the champion of champions tournament recently.
Add to this the much improved showing by the youngsters, particularly No 1 Abigael Crawford, who won two games from four in the South Island event.
Annabel Evans (16) was the only non-Canterbury player to notch four wins in the South Island championship at Russley last month and she retains the No 3 position.
Chisholm Links golfer Rachel Lissaman will fill the No 4 berth, having emerged with a win and a half in the South Island event.
Otago has languished at or near the bottom in recent years, but there is an air of confidence that this quintet will perform well.
The team meets Aorangi this morning and will be keen for revenge after narrowly losing to the Timaru-based team in the South Island event.
This afternoon will be a tough battle against a strong Canterbury unit, while the task gets no easier tomorrow morning against Waikato.
Tomorrow afternoon will be a real test against Auckland, which includes the Keh sisters, Munchin and Slyi, along with the well performed Brittney Dryland.
Otago gets another opportunity to down Southland on Thursday morning and the team will be keen to boost its tally against Hawkes Bay-Poverty Bay in the afternoon.
Otago has a bye in the last section round which will be played on Friday morning.
The semifinals and the final will be played on Saturday.
