Despite playing on their home course on Saturday, the Taieri Lakes golfers failed to get off the bottom of the points table, going down to Island Park 2.5 to 3.5.
The Taieri golfers have three more rounds to finish in the top five to ensure a place in the playoffs and not be the only team to miss out.
The battle of the No1 golfers was between two Sport Otago employees, Michael Smith beating Ryan Rosevear 6 and 5 to put Island Park in the driving seat.
The Island Park tail of Michael Minty and Phil Bungard had comfortable wins while Mike Wray halved with Mark Andrews to give his team the win.
At St Clair, Otago beat the local team 4 to 2 to remain at the top of the table with 13 points and 22 games.
The top St Clair duo of Joseph Hancock and Michael Crawford both won their matches but the tail four games all went to the Balmacewen golfers.
Brandon Hodgson beat Joshua Taylor 4 and 3 while his playing partner, Duncan Croudis, gave Otago its second win one hole later.
Otago No5 Luke Murdoch beat St Clair junior Callum White with one hole to spare, while at No6 Nick Borren posted a resounding 8 and 7 margin over Chris Idour.
