Defending champion Auckland and Wellington are in contention to win the Freyberg Masters (over-40) title which will be decided over the final two rounds on the Whitford Park course in Auckland today.
Both teams have the maximum six points although Auckland has a 1.5 game advantage should the title be decided on countback.
Otago is still languishing at the bottom of the leaderboard having lost to Hawkes Bay yesterday morning and halved with Poverty Bay-East Coast in the afternoon.
Otago has 0.5 points and 6.5 games going into the final day with a match against 2014 winner Northland this morning and a bye in the final round this afternoon.
Otago No1 Andrew Hobbs did not compete yesterday bringing Cromwell’s Kevin Clark into the playing quintet.
Against Hawkes Bay, Otago was competitive but the top four players lost by narrow margins. Clark posted his first win in the event, beating Paul Beachen with two holes to spare.
Against Poverty Bay-East Coast, Clark and fill-in No1 Stephen Hitchcox lost by narrow margins.
Simon Hollyer and Gary Creedy posted 2 and 1 wins leaving Taieri’s Ken Shaw to snatch the required half.
Shaw was 1-up with two holes to play but missed a short putt on the 17th green leading to the halved match.
