Otago went on to beat Aorangi, Canterbury and Southland but the team tied with Tasman which had two wins and two halves.
Tasman took the honours on the countback with 19 games, while Otago finished second on 17.5 games and Canterbury languished in third place.
Southland which won the Toro national event in Gisborne two years ago and was defending the South Island title, failed to post a win and took the wooden spoon, with half a point and 12 games.
The event was the most level contest in recent years with the 40 golfers meeting a fiery course, in windy conditions, on Saturday and a very different track yesterday, after overnight watering.
Only two golfers notched four wins during the weekend. Josh Smith at No5 cemented his place in the Aorangi quintet and Karl Mariu (Southland No3) continued his winning form.
Mariu, a former Canterbury representative, also won seven of his eight games in last week's Masters (over-40) contest, at No 1 for Southland.
Mark Brooks, at No2, was the pick of the Otago golfers but he did not find it easy and all of his four games finished on the final green.
Brooks finished with two wins and two halves while Tasman's Hamish Campbell and Nick Ludbrook were also unbeaten, with three wins and a-half each.
Otago's No. 1 Brent McEwan had three wins and almost got out of jail after trailing Tasman's Ryan Chisnall by four after eight holes.
Nick Borren was solid at No3, winning his first three games in style losing only to Mariu, on the 15th green in the final round.
However, many of the other players still trialling for places were tentative on Saturday, with unpredictable bounces and recently cored greens.
But they came to the party yesterday, when both Sean Masters (No5) and Brandon Hodgson (No7) won both their matches.
