University exam commitments have led to the Otago men's golf selectors juggling the team order for the South Island Interprovincial teams' tournament on the Russley course in Christchurch at the weekend.
James Anstiss and Sean Masters (both Otago) have exams to sit on Saturday and will only be available for the final two rounds on Sunday.
Anstiss will be replaced by ninth-ranked Daniel Elder (Otago) on Saturday and Ryan Bellamy (Port Chalmers) will replace Masters for the first two rounds.
Results from the trial series should rank Anstiss at No2 or No3 but he will be at No6 for the weekend, while Masters will be at No7.
"This order for this event will be a better balance and it will be easier for the replacements not being placed too high in the order,'' selection convener Greg Johnson said.
''As a build-up for the national Toro event, we want to perform as well as we can in the South Island event and, hopefully, win it.
''We comfortably won the 10-man triangular and want to keep winning in the lead-up to the SBS Invitational and Toro tournaments.''
This year is Johnson's second as convener of the panel and he has seen a dramatic improvement in many of the golfers.
''The gap between Brent McEwan [St Clair] at No1 and the other triallists has shrunk over the last 12 months,'' he said.
''McEwan is playing at the same standard but this year Duncan Croudis has returned from the United States and we had at least 10 serious contenders for the top six.
''Players have had to work harder to get selected this year, which has led to a rise in the standard of golf.''
Otago finished fourth at North Shore last year and Johnson is hopeful this year's team can perform better and possibly even win.
Otago team
For SI team tournament
Brent McEwan (St Clair, c), Duncan Croudis (Otago), Mark Brooks (Queenstown), Nicholas Borren (Otago), Brandon Hodgson (Otago), James Anstiss (Otago) - replaced by Daniel Elder (Otago) on Saturday, Sean Masters (Otago) - replaced by Ryan Bellamy (Port Chalmers) on Saturday, Daniel Barnett (Queenstown). Reserve: Michael Ormandy (North Otago).
