Otago remains unbeaten but must beat Wellington and Northland today to guarantee a place in the semifinals of the national interprovincial team tournament on the Ngamotu course in New Plymouth on Saturday.
Canterbury leads the section with 3.5 points while Otago and Wellington are tied for second with three points each.
In the other section, Waikato and North Harbour have four points each, with Bay of Plenty on three points after its shock loss to North Harbour yesterday.
Once again Otago had a tight tussle, this time with the local Taranaki quintet and a bunch of loyal supporters.
Michael Smith was the key to the 3 to 2 win over Taranaki, posting his fourth win from four matches this week in a nail-biting finish.
Smith turned 1-up on Travis Stewart but went back to square when he three-putted on the 11th green.
He won the 13th to take the lead but the match was all tied up again when Stewart chipped in for a birdie-2 on the 15th hole.
Smith was one up with two holes to play after winning the 16th but had a nightmare penultimate hole to square the match with one hole to play.
He sank a tricky downhill 3m putt on the final green to win his match and secure the Otago victory.
No1 Fraser MacLachlan found his mojo and was never behind Kerry Otene after winning the first hole with a birdie.He turned two ahead and finished strongly to win the 16th and post a 4 and 2 win in Otago’s favour.
No2 Brandon Hodgson remains unbeaten, getting his third win in impressive fashion over Ben Joseph.Hodgson birdied the second and was two ahead after three holes,
and the match oscillated with Hodgson leading by one at the turn.
He won the 10th, 12th and 13th to lead by four but lost the 15th to a birdie-3 to be dormie 3-up and the match finished on the next green.
Previously unbeaten, Otago No5 Chris Snow had two birdies against him at the end of the front nine to turn two behind Mark Kennard.He struck tree trouble on the 12th to go three behind but won 14 and 15 to reduce the margin to one.
But he lost the next hole to trail by two with two holes to play and shook hands with his opponent on the 17 green.
No3 Inia Logan struggled with the matchplay format and found himself dormie five down.He made a spirited fightback winning the 14th, 15th and 16th holes, but lost 17 for a 3 and 1 loss.
