The team has five players who beat Canterbury in the final last year while Oamaru's Jonny Mackay, Daniel Arneson (Roxburgh) and 12-year-old Liam Judkins make their debuts.
Arneson and Judkins join Joseph Hancock in the under-16 trio while Inia Logan, Jakob Bleach, Connor Ross, Jack Turner and Mackay make up the under-19 quintet.
This morning, Otago meets tournament favourite North Harbour which has a star-studded octet led by No1 Jake Meenhorst who won the North Island men's title last weekend.
No2 Kevin Koong was second in the national under-19 event earlier this month while top North Harbour under-16 player Jake Lee is a regular top-10 finisher in age-group events.
This afternoon Otago meets Eastland (formerly Poverty Bay-East Coast) and will need a good winning margin to assist any countback on section places.
Tomorrow morning, Otago fronts up against a strong Bay of Plenty team which won the event in 2013 and 2014.
After the first three rounds, it will be clear if Otago is on track to have any chance of making this year's playoff for first and second.
Inia Logan will have a tough battle in this encounter playing his good friend Henry Spring in the battle of the No1 players.
Bay No2 Shaun Campbell plays off a plus-one handicap and will be a stern test for Otago's Jakob Bleach.
There are two sections of five, and each team plays the four other teams in their section with one cross-over match decided on the previous year's placings.
Otago meets Auckland in the cross-over but New Zealand's largest city did not perform well last year and has not won the event since 2007.
The last section match on Thursday afternoon is against Manawatu-Wanganui when Otago will know its placing in section A and its opponent in the finals matches on Friday morning.
