Laura Hoskin
After a bye and a rest yesterday morning, Otago romped up
the Division Two leaderboard with a 5-0 drubbing of Aorangi in
the afternoon to be on three points and 8.5 games with three
rounds to play.
Otago started the tournament with a 2 to 3 loss to Canterbury
but gained a point with a half with Hawkes Bay in the
afternoon.
Otago has a tough day at the office tomorrow, meeting the
favoured Auckland quintet in the morning and last year's
losing finalist Waikato in the afternoon.
St Hilda's Collegiate student Laura Hoskin has made a good
start in the No 1 position, posting her second win from three
rounds over Aorangi's Catherine Knight yesterday.
Hoskin (15) took the early lead to be two ahead after four
holes but lost the eighth hole after taking a penalty drop
from deep rough.
The experienced Knight missed the 10th and 11th greens in
regulation and failed to get up and down, giving Hoskin a
healthy lead of three.
Hoskin increased her lead to four with a birdie on the 12th
but lost two in a row and halved 16 and 17 to be two ahead
with two holes to play.
Knight sank a 5m birdie putt on the 17th to stay alive but
could not repeat the feat on the final green giving Hoskin
the win.
Jo Hicks-Beach won the first four holes against Catherine
Bell and was always in command after making a gimme birdie on
the 10th to go five up.
Shani Arona (No 3) turned one up over Ginny Bolderston but
fired early on the homeward nine with wins on 12, 13 and 14
to eventually win with three holes to spare.
Liz McRae had a tough match against Barbara O'Connell but
turned one in front and edged a little further ahead on the
back nine notching a two-up win on the final green.
Wanaka's McRae, the veteran of the team, will have a tough
match against Auckland No 4 Wen Yung Keh this morning.
Win, halve or lose, McRae will have every reason to celebrate
as the match will be the 100th she has played for Otago in
this tournament.
Susan Greig (No 5) is a former No 1 and her experience showed
when she notched her third win from as many starts in this
event.
Her victim this time was Jenny Kellahan, who hung in with an
excellent homeward nine after Greig turned five up.
Kellahan's spirited fightback reduced the lead to one, before
Greig won the final hole to put the result beyond doubt.
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