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A DP World Tour card and a spot in The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon await the most recent Kiwi famous person golfer Kazuma Kobori.
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Breakout Kiwi star Kazuma Kobori is able to rub shoulders with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth at this yr’s Open Championship after being formally declared the 2023/2024 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Advantage champion.
A 3-time winner since January after incomes his Tour card by successful Qualifying Faculty final April, Kobori has an unassailable lead with only one occasion remaining, this week’s The Nationwide Match offered by BMW at The Nationwide Golf Membership.
Whereas six different gamers are nonetheless within the hunt for the ultimate two DP World Tour playing cards, Kobori can tee it up from Thursday protected within the data that he could have standing when the 2025 DP World Tour commences with the Australian PGA Championship from November 21-24.
It’s a speedy ascension for a 22-year-old who solely turned skilled initially of November and who, halfway by way of the season, was involved that he wouldn’t preserve his card.
However the golf world is quickly to divulge heart’s contents to him, together with an exemption to the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon in July.
“I used to be simply attempting to get the DP World Tour card for subsequent yr after which my supervisor referred to as me a few days after NZ Open and mentioned that I had The Open sealed up too,” mentioned Kobori.
“That’s fairly cool. For me, it was a little bit of a bonus as a result of I truly didn’t know that was a part of the deal.
“For sure, I’ll take it.”
Provided that he didn’t take up golf critically till he was 12 years of age, Kobori’s earliest reminiscences of main championships are post-2010, when McIlroy and Spieth have been at their most dominant.
He’s now coming to phrases with the truth that he’ll play The Open Championship alongside them in simply 4 months’ time.
“Clearly Tiger Woods was fairly dominant on the main championships however I began golf a bit later, after I was 10. Correctly began taking part in after I was 12 so 2010 onwards, the blokes taking part in main championships, these actually caught to me,” he added.
“Rory, Jordan Spieth successful The Open Championship, stuff like that.
“To have the ability to play in that event myself is one thing that I’m actually wanting ahead to.”
Altering seasons
Fact be advised, the 2023/2024 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia season was Kobori’s back-up plan.
With a class secured at Q Faculty, Kobori’s main focus was the Asia-Pacific Beginner Championship at Royal Melbourne Golf Membership in October.
The week prior, he was particular person medallist on the Eisenhower Trophy in Abu Dhabi and, after one spherical at Royal Melbourne, was main by two strokes.
A win that week would have earned Kobori a begin at each The Open and The Masters, offered he retained his novice standing.
He would in the end end sixth, flip professional three days later and end tied for ninth in his first begin on the Queensland PGA Championship at Nudgee.
Two weeks later he squandered a six-stroke lead on the ultimate day of the Victorian PGA Championship and, after missed cuts at each the Australian PGA and Australian Open, took a actuality verify heading into Christmas.
“This was the plan, and the absolute best final result, if you’ll. That being mentioned, it’s not how I believed it will go in any respect,” Kobori conceded.
“After the Aus Open I used to be sitting thirty eighth or one thing on the Order of Advantage and considering, That is fairly brutal if I’m going to try to preserve my card.”
As others took a Christmas break, Kobori went to work.
After a poor end on the Heritage Traditional to start out 2024 he received three of the subsequent 4 tournaments, matching Tiger Woods’ lofty mark of three wins in his first 10 begins as an expert.
Though a missed lower on the New Zealand Open delayed affirmation if just for a few days, Kobori has now superior additional down his skilled golf pathway than he may have imagined only some months earlier.
“It’s improbable; it’s a dream come true,” he mentioned of his Order of Advantage rewards.
“I’ll be 23 by the point I begin my DP World Tour season correctly however that’s manner additional forward of my timeline than I may have ever imagined.
“That is the pathway that I deliberate out for myself but it surely’s gone way more shortly than I had thought.”
The one place to look at The Nationwide Match offered by BMW dwell is on Fox Sports activities, out there on Foxtel and Kayo.
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