Otago has now lost its opening four rounds.
No3 Annabel Evans was the only Otago player to post a win in the rain and wind, beating Waikato No3 Fai Tongdethsri with three holes to spare.
Evans (15) won the first four holes with three pars and one birdie and remained four ahead at the turn.
She lost the 11th but went back to four ahead two holes later before winning the 15th to close out the match. Evans was in form with the putter but this form deserted her in her afternoon match with Auckland’s Slyi Keh.
She won the first two holes to take the lead but was outplayed over the next seven holes to turn five down.
Keh’s good form continued on the back nine and she posted a 7 and 5 win over the Otago player.
No1 Abigael Crawford suffered two convincing losses at the hands of two of New Zealand’s top players.
Waikato’s Chantelle Cassidy was too strong for the Otago youngster, taking the honours with five holes to spare.
In the afternoon, Crawford missed greens in regulation which put her under pressure against Auckland’s Rose Zheng.
In the morning, Otago No2 Jo Hicks-Beach was competitive against Jill Morgan despite going three behind early in the round. She failed to catch up and was beaten on the 16th green.
She played par golf in the afternoon but lost holes to birdies to trail Munchin Keh by three at the turn.
Hicks-Beach played the back nine 1-over but made little impression on Keh and lost on the 14th green.
No4 Rachel Lissaman lost to Zeta Syme in the morning and Brittany Dryland in the afternoon.
Against Syme, she lost the first two holes but fought back to be 1-up at the halfway stage. However, she lost holes early on the homeward nine and shook hands with Syme on the 16th green.
Lissaman turned 2-down to Dryland in the afternoon and was competitive on the back nine before going out of bounds on the 15th which finished the match.
In sharp contrast to Tuesday when Otago No5 Susan Greig posted two wins, she suffered two losses yesterday, going down to Waikato’s Katherine Janphanich 4 and 3.
In her afternoon match against Carmen Lim, she lost the third, fourth and fifth holes to go 3-down and this increased to a deficit of four after nine holes.
She lost the 10th and 11th to go 6-down but won the 13th and halved 14 to lose 5 and 4.
Otago has its final two contests today and should have an easier ride with Southland this morning and Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay this afternoon.
Otago has beaten Southland twice this year and will be wanting to gain two points to lift its profile and position.
● Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn was named as Europe’s Ryder Cup captain yesterday with the task of reclaiming the trophy from the United States at Le Golf National in Paris in 2018, Reuters reported.
