Huge week for Kazuma Kobori at British Masters
Kazuma Kobori – file photo – image Australian Golf Media
23-year-old Kazuma Kobori has recorded the best finish of his rookie DP World Tour season with a share of the runner-up place at the British Masters at the Belfry.
A stunning closing stretch of 6 under over his last six holes, including two consecutive putts of close to 60 feet on holes 17 and 18, saw Kobori storm into contention to actually win the title before a strong finishing burst by the eventual winner, Alex Noren, resulted in a share of the runner-up place and the biggest cheque of his career.
The lengthy birdie putt at the 18th had Kobori in a share of the lead with Denmark’s Nicolai Hoggard, but Noren, who was playing in the final group and some one hour behind Kobori, birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th and despite a bogey at the last ran out the winner by one.
Kobori secures a cheque for €261,000, however, and makes a massive jump to 23rd in the Race to Dubai rankings.
Not only does it boost his immediate bank balance, but Kobori now stands a great chance of making it to the Tour Championship and has access to the big money events coming up over the next three months.
“Yeah, I don’t know what happened to be honest,” said Kobori when trying to describe his powerful finish.
“I was just hitting shot-by-shot and then I made a nice birdie putt on, what’s that par 5, 15, and then followed it up with a mid-range putt on 16. And then I was like, oh, yeah, playing pretty good.
“I think at the start of the day, the goal was to get to three and that got me to four. I was like, yeah, this is going quite nicely. Very happy right now.”
“Pretty taxing to be honest,” added Kobori when asked to describe the experience. “I guess you can’t really see it from the lens of a camera or on TV but I am pretty nervous out there. Even when I was like making those birdies, I was still nervous.
“But I held my composure pretty well I think for the most part, and yeah, pretty happy with how I handled it.”
Perth’s Jason Scrivener was the next best of the Australasians when he finished 24th, while Elvis Smylie, who was in contention through 36 holes, faded to finish 33rd.
