A loss to Southland on the final day cost Otago any chance of successfully defending the South Island interprovincial title which was decided at the Westport Golf Club at Carters Beach during the weekend.
Otago drew with Canterbury on Saturday and beat Tasman 7 to 1, which gave it the overnight lead by two games but this dwindled to a half after yesterday's morning round.
After the draw on Saturday the aim was to amass as many games as possible yesterday to win on the countback.
The team achieved this with 20.5 games to Canterbury's 19 but team management did not count on losing to a spirited Southland Octet by 3.5 to 4.5 games which cost Otago a point.
In the tie with Canterbury, a vital turnaround was when No 4 Brandon Hodgson was two down after five holes but won seven on the trot to beat Nic Kay with five holes to spare.
Otago No 5 Fraser MacLachlan also helped his team's Saturday success by finishing eagle birdie to beat Brook Hale (Tasman) on the final green.
Nick Borren birdied three of the first four holes to put Canterbury No 1 Jordan Bakermans on the back foot but made a series of pars with Bakermans taking the match on the final green.
Yesterday, Borren turned three down to Southland's Vaughan McCall but fought back to square his match with the top New Zealand amateur.
The match between Duncan Croudis (No 2) and Aorangi's Daniel Perham was never in doubt with Croudis winning by 5 and 4.
But a lacklustre performance against Southland in the afternoon cost Otago dearly leaving it in second behind Canterbury and putting Southland into third place with two points and 15 games.
An improving Aorangi team finished fourth, pipping Tasman by half a game but the South Canterbury golfers had reason to celebrate on Saturday evening.
The team had been strengthened by the return of Daniel Perham at No 2 and he celebrated his comeback with a hole in one on the 140m par 3 11th hole on Saturday morning.
There were four unbeaten players during the weekend, which included Otago's Fraser MacLachlan and Ryan Bellamy who had four wins each. Canterbury No 1 Jordan Bakermans also had four wins while Temula junior Jake MacLachlan had three wins and a half.
