Duncan Croudis (Otago) and Brent McEwan (St Clair) have been selected in the Otago two-man team to compete in the Grant Clements Memorial tournament to be played at Mount Maunganui on February 14-15.
The pair will team up the day before the event to compete in the New Zealand foursomes championship, which will be played over 36 holes on the same course.
This could be deja vu for McEwan, who played with Michael Smith three years ago when the pair finished second. This pair will be charged with the responsibility of maintaining Otago's recent string of successes.
The Otago men's team has enjoyed its best season for many years, culminating in second place in the New Zealand interprovincial in Hamilton two weeks ago.
For the first time in recent years, there were about 10 serious contenders for places in the final quintet and many golfers displayed their best form.
Otago convincingly won the triangular tournament against Aorangi and Southland at Cromwell two months ago.
The team followed this with an impressive win in the South Island interprovincial event, beating Canterbury by a 6 to 2 margin on its home Russley course on the final day.
Otago then finished fifth in the Southland invitational strokeplay tournament before the impressive display at St Andrews in Hamilton.
The team beat Southland invitational winner Bay of Plenty and defending New Zealand interprovincial champion Manawatu-Wanganui on the way to the final.
Only the local Waikato team, with four players competing on their home course, had the measure of this year's Otago team.
The unsung heroes of Otago's success this year are the selectors, led by convener Greg Johnson.
Not only did they select the players but astute planning placed the players in key positions, maximising Otago's points and game tallies.
Mark Brooks, at No 5, anchored the team with six wins and a half, while No 3 McEwan emerged almost unbeaten with seven wins from eight games.
Otago No 2 James Anstiss was not available to be considered for the Grant Clements event, as he leaves to take up a golf scholarship at Southeastern Louisiana University in January.
