Moving from Auckland to Waikato has been a good omen for Brooke Hamilton, who fired a 5-under-par 67 to blitz the girls field in the South Island age-group tournament in Cromwell yesterday.
Hamilton (16) shot four birdies and an eagle three on the 11th on her way to setting a women's course record on the Greg Turner-designed Cromwell layout.
Hamilton's only blemish during her round was a bogey five on the 13th, but she has bettered the rounds of 71 shot by Shelley Duncan and equalled by Susan Greig in 2000.
The round gives Hamilton an almost unassailable eight-shot lead over Harewood's Nicole Nathan, who has scores of 70 and 75.
Laura Hoskin (Arrowtown) is Otago's best performer in third place buts she is well off the pace after rounds of 78 and 75.
In the men's under-19 section, Samson Kim relinquished his first-round lead after shooting a 4-over 76 yesterday.
He now lies in a tie for third behind Jake Hallinan (Weedons) on 141 and Chas Craig (Marlborough) on 145.
Cromwell's Inia Logan shares the lead with Marcel Boet (Christchurch) on 147 going into the final round of the under-17 section.
Ha Bin Suh (Waitemata) fired his second 72 for a four-shot lead in the under-15 event while Zachary May (Russley) leads the under-13 section.
The Otago under-19 team had a much better day in the South Island team event led by Harry Smith who carded a par 72.
However, the team can only lament the first day's performance which plummeted it out of contention.
Otago retained the lead in the under-16 section but not without some anxious moments.
The first-round lead of 11 shots could have been completely lost at one stage but some sound scoring by Logan, Jacob Bleach and Ryan Whelan helped keep the team on track.
All credit to Terry Kim who had a disastrous front nine but toughed it out to score a regulation 36 coming home.
The final round of the individual and team events will start at 9am today.
