The Indoor Open is held early in the season while tertiary students are still in Dunedin, but has failed to attract them in numbers at the busy time of the year for them.
Their return to the city does not happen until near season's end, meaning their contribution to summer sports is limited.
The senior event has 28 players but the junior event has attracted a field double the size of last year, with its updated status to tier 2 on the national circuit, bringing a large group of South Island players, along with some others from as far away as Auckland.
There are 158 entries from 93 players with some opting to play in two age groups.
The 10 and unders and 14s play this weekend, while the 12s and 16s are on Monday and Tuesday.
The senior open will be completed this weekend with finals from late tomorrow morning.
The men's open winner should come from one of the South Island champion McGlashan school team, Canterbury's Nic Jenkins or Ryan Eggers (Balclutha).
Paddy Ou, Carlos Reid and Mitchell Sizemore, the leading school representatives, all get the chance to claim their first Otago Open title.
Ou was runner up last year to Daiki Naka (Canterbury), and ended up being named player of the year for his feats throughout the season.
He is a slight favourite to go one better this time.
The absence of the two top-ranked Otago women Georgia Hume and Jessie Stevenson leaves it as a near-gift for Rebecca Dellaway from North Otago, who is also the current Otago Open champion.
Main interest will centre on which of the remaining mixture of experience and up-and-coming juniors will join her in the final.
