Late rush gives New Zealand’s Kobori Australian PGA lead
A very happy leader at the halfway point, Kazuma Kobori – image courtesy of PGA of Australia
The impact of Thursday’s afternoon deluge during round one of the BMW Australian PGA Championship has had its ongoing consequences, with round two unable to be completed before darkness brought play to a close at 6.25.
Around 20 players will be required to return to the course early on Saturday morning, but there will be little impact at the top of the leaderboard with 21 of the leading 22 players having already completed their opening 36 holes.
New Zealand’s 24-year-old Kazuma Kobori birdied his final four holes to break clear of a congested leaderboard, his round of 63 moving him one clear of long-time second-round leader Brett Rankin, his fellow Queenslander Anthony Quayle and China’s Wenyi Ding.
Kobiri, who led the Australasian Tour Order of Merit in 2024, has just completed his first season on the DP World Tour and has done so with considerable success for a rookie on that tour.
He has won four events previously on the PGA Tour, one as a 17-year-old amateur in 2017, so this weekend’s task offers a greater challenge than previously, although he did finish an impressive runner-up at the British Masters this year.
“Yeah, that’s pretty cool,” said Kobori when reminded of his strong finish. “I struck the ball really well coming in after I snap-hooked one down the trees on 14. I don’t know, something must have clicked and then started flagging it and then… I was putting well all day, so yeah, rolled a couple in and that was that.
“To be honest, man, I’m just trying to get a little bit better at golf every day. Whether I play on the Aussie tour, I play back in New Zealand, I play DP or I play on the PGA Tour, play majors, I’m just trying to get a little bit better at golf. I feel like today I learned a little bit about my game today and then I’ll use that moving forward.”
When asked just it was he had learned he responded; I think my good is good enough, but my poor is not quite good enough to crack it.
“I want to get a little bit more consistency, not in results, but more so my processes and what I’m doing more so off the golf course, away from the tournament, such as the gym, practice range, meditation, mental skills, all of that good stuff. Trying to get a bit more control on those things that will allow me to perform better on the course. So I think that’s a big thing that I’ve learned this year.
The opening two days have been quite productive for Kobori as yesterday he was one of two players to record a hole-in-one.
Anthony Quayle was one of the early leaders on day one, and the man who finished 3rd in this event last year fashioned a round of 66 to move into a share of the lead before Kobori birdied the last soon after.
Quayle has had the benefit of New Zealand caddy Steve Williams on the bag and has been delighted with the positivity Williams brings to the partnership and his preparedness to call his player off a shot if he is not 100% sure of the strategy.
“Yeah, effectively the conditions had changed, and so I suppose he had the courage… I was about to pull the trigger, and he had the courage just to say, mate, sorry, I’ve got to stop you. It’s not that anymore. It’s this. He’s like, trust this. It’s a hundred per cent this. If you hit this, it’ll be good. And then felt like I executed that really well. Adjusted how I was going to hit it initially, and yeah, we finished up pretty close.
“That trait is something that’s so rare. I think he is really putting his neck on the line by doing that. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s cool for a player. For me, I felt like he wouldn’t be doing it unless he was a hundred per cent set, and I felt pretty confident as soon as he did.
“It didn’t feel like there was any doubt. I guess his language and how he sort of delivers the message eliminates any doubt, and I felt like the new plan… it was all a very quick sort of process and the new plan was the only plan and then just executed.”
Rankin has, for most of his career, been a PGA Tour of Australasia player and a successful competitor in pro-am events, although his only win on the PGA Tour of Australasia came six years ago in the Northern Territory PGA Championship.
Rankin has played the Asian Tour this season and feels that he helped in the improvement in his results.
“I’m just a lot more experienced with my game and with golf itself. I think this year’s been great playing Asian Tour. I played a lot of four-day tournaments, so I’m kind of in that routine of playing four days and understanding that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
“Yeah, cool, I’m leading after 36 holes, but a lot can happen in 36 holes, so it’s like there’s no point getting excited right now. It’s halfway there. I just got to keep doing what I’m doing. Look at the leaderboard. There’s some high-quality golfers up there, so I’m not kidding myself. So I keep doing what I’m doing, keep making birdies. Obviously got to keep going forward if I want any chance to win for sure.
He played well at the Queensland PGA Championship this year and has carried that over into an impressive opening 36 holes here, leading after finishing off his opening round of 64 this morning and then adding a round of 69 soon after.
Ding has played the DP World Tour this season with just one top ten all season, but he played well in two Asian events in recent weeks and added a round of 66 to his opening 67 to be in that share of second place.
Those within three shots of the lead include the likes of Min Woo Lee, Cameron Davis, Daniel Hillier and Marc Leishman amongst others, but with so many players in contention and a golf course offering low rounds the weekend promises much.
Three-time winner of the event, Cameron Smith, missed the cut by four shots.
