Kazuma Kobori’s first win as a professional golfer

It was Kazuma Kobori’s second win on the PGA Tour of Australasia but this time there was an improvement in the bank balance

The second win for the New Zealand golfer came in the Webex Players' Series Murray River at Cobram Barooga Golf Club on the Victoria-New South Wales border earlier this month.

Kobori’s first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia came as an amateur in the 2019 New Zealand PGA Championship at Pegasus in Canterbury. Kobori was aged 17 at the time.

Kobori, 22, banked $A45,000 for his win at Cobram-Barooga after turning professional last November.

He was a three-shot leader after round three at Cobram Barooga and never looked like relinquishing the lead in the final round to move up to seventh on the PGA Tour of Australasia's order of merit.

The win took him to fourth among those to have played the minimum four events required to be eligible for the order of merit and now has one of the three DP World Tour cards in his sights.

“I might just be outside top 10 but definitely a step in the right direction,” Kobori told PGA Tour of Australia writer Tony Webeck prior to the order of merit update.

“Really just want to get that top three for the DP World Tour card and hopefully get rookie of the year as well.

“That’s one of my goals at the start of the season, even though I started later than the other guys.”

Caption: Kazuma Kobori with his trophy after winning his first tournament as a professional at the Cobram-Barooga Golf Club on the Victoria-New South Wales border earlier this month. Photo credit: PGA of Australia.

The Cobram-Barooga tournament was a mixed event with Kobori’s older sister Momoka Kobori finishing third. They were actually paired together in the third round.

The Koboris are emerging as one of the best brother-sister acts in golf and while Momoka Kobori found her best golf for some time it was, in one sense, bittersweet, as reported by Martin Blake for PGA Tour of Australia.

“I nearly got there,” said the 24-year-old Momoka Kabori said.

“I was chasing (him), yeah. It’s quite funny. Third round we were paired together and walking up to the tee I said it doesn’t even feel like a tournament. It was like we were having a practice round together.

“I was happy for him. It was cool to be able to be there and see his first win (as a professional). Looking at it from my point of view playing that week, I know there was shots that I dropped throughout the week, but I played well the week and I’m glad for him.”

The Koboris, born in Japan and emigrants to New Zealand when they were infants, are close. They travelled together to Cobram-Barooga and again the following week for the Victoria Open near Geelong.

Momoka Kobori said playing a mixed event was good for her game.

“From my perspective, there’s a lot to be learned from watching the guys play,” she said.

“And hopefully it’s vice-versa as well. I’ve learned a lot from watching the top guys play. It’s been good for my development.”

Kobori was coming off a difficult first year on the road on the Ladies' European Tour (LET).

She finished 96th on the money list, lost her playing rights momentarily, and then went back to qualifying school and re-earned her place on the LET for 2024.

“It was rough, actually, from a golf perspective, a bit of a struggle getting the results that I wanted,” she said.

“Which meant I had to go to Q school. It was a year full of experiences, I think. There are a lot of learnings along the way being my rookie year.”

“I learned a lot about the courses we’re playing, what suits me and what doesn’t, what kind of routine works for me, a lot of that. I don’t want to be repeating the same things that I did last year so there are things that have to be picked up on.”