Otago made it two out of three with a 5-3 win over North Harbour in the third round of the Junior Interprovincial tournament in fine conditions on the Cambridge golf course yesterday.
After beating Waikato and going down to Auckland on Tuesday, Otago is tied with Waikato in second place on four points behind Auckland in pool B.
But the task ahead will be formidable as Otago plays defending champion Bay of Plenty this morning and a much improved Eastland (formerly Poverty Bay East Coast) this afternoon.
Otago No1 Inia Logan continued on his winning way, beating Harbour's Jake Meenhorst with two holes to spare.
However, for the first 12 holes Logan was not displaying his usual top form and the leading pair gifted each other holes on several occasions.
Logan responded at the death by winning the par 3 13th and birdieing the par 5 14th to take command in a match which finished on the 16th green.
No2 Sungwoo Han had a comfortable win over Harbour reserve Sul Im after he replaced regular No2 Kit Bittle, who was forced to withdraw due to illness.
No3 Harry Smith met an in form James Hyde who made Smith pay dearly for any mistake he made.
No6 Callum Judkins and No7 Jack Turner went down on the homeward nine leaving No4 Jakob Bleach, No5 Connor Ross and No8 Joseph Hancock the task of getting Otago home.
Ross parred the 17th hole to beat a gutsy Willy Eade 2 and 1, while Hancock faced a tough battle at one light with three holes to play.
Hancock birdied the 16th and parred the next hole to go dormie 1 up and then took the match 1 up margin when he halved the final hole.
Bleach was one ahead with two holes to play and, when he halved the 17th with two putts from a difficult position, he ensured Otago a 4-3 win, but Bleach put the icing on the cake by winning the final hole to win 5-3.
• Aucklanders Jerry Song and Siyi Keh won the boys and girls sections of the Eagles tournament at St Clair golf course.
The two day tournament wrapped up yesterday, Song winning by a shot over Jack Clout, of Wellington, while Keh needed a two hole playoff to edge Eve Clark, of Nelson.
