Raphael Anderson (Futures Wakatipu), in particular, turned some heads as he made it all the way to the matchplay semifinals on Saturday.
Anderson, just 14, claimed some notable scalps on his charge to the final four.
He beat Ishaan Shah (Royal Auckland and Grange) on the 22nd hole in the first matchplay round and Otago interprovincial representative Troy Scott (Cromwell) 2&1 in the second, and upset No 2 seed Thomas Spearman-Burn (Miramar) 2-up in the quarterfinals.
Anderson was beaten 2&1 by Isaac Steel (Tieke Golf Estate) in the semifinals, ending an almost fairy-tale run for the rising star.
Scott had beaten Jakob Bird (Hamilton) in the first matchplay round.
Noah Novacek (Futures Wakatipu) beat Max Drescher (Napier) 1-up in the first round before losing to Spearman-Burn on the 22nd hole.
Otago veterans Duncan Croudis and Ben Patston, Otago No1 Ricky Kang and another exciting youngster, Albie Reed — the 16-year-old representing Futures Dunedin who was fourth at the New Zealand under-19 championships recently — also made the matchplay stages before being beaten in the first round.
Reed was the top-ranked Otago golfer after two rounds of qualifying, shooting 77 and an impressive 74 in cold, windy and wet conditions to qualify eighth for the 32-strong matchplay field.
Anderson and Kang each shot 78 and 74.
Mitchell Kale (Tauranga) was the No1 qualifier, shooting 74 and 73 to top the leaderboard by two shots, and went on to win the title.
Kale had three relatively comfortable matchplay wins before being taken to an extra hole in the semifinal by Cordell Henare (Napier).
He beat Steel 1-up in the 36-hole final to claim his first New Zealand Amateur title in his third appearance in the final.
‘‘It feels pretty good to sneak over the line this time," Kale said.
"It was looking pretty dicey there for a while, so it’s pretty cool to get it done.’’
Otago No1 Yoonae Jeong continued her excellent form with a run to the semifinals of the 16-strong women’s matchplay.
Jeong opened with a 1-up win over Sarah Li, and beat Alice Fry 4&2 in the quarterfinals.
She was beaten by Teresa Wang (Pupuke) 2&1 in the semifinals.
Wang then took part in an epic women’s final, won by Chloe So (Pakuranga) on the 40th hole yesterday.
So narrowly missed a putt to win on the 36th, and Wang calmly rolled in a five-footer to force extra holes.
After three tense playoff holes, the contest was finally decided on the 40th, where Wang’s long birdie attempt raced past the hole and her return putt slid by, leaving So to tap in for par.
It capped a stellar run for So that included consecutive Charles Tour amateur wins at Mount Maunganui and Taranaki.
"I’m feeling shocked and also quite tired — I didn’t really expect to play more than 36 holes today," So said.
"I tried not to get too far ahead of myself, trusted the process, and just had a lot of fun."
