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It might be up to a Kiwi amateur to deny a bunch of Australians poised to keep their country’s dominance of the New Zealand Open rolling.
A double-bogey on the penultimate hole of his third round means Rangiora 21-year-old Kazuma Kobori more than has his work cut out, but he’ll head into the final round of the $1.7 million tournament in a share of seventh, five shots behind Aussie leader Shae Wools-Cobb.
Kobori, who hadn’t dropped a shot until his double-bogey, shot a 3-under 68 at Arrowtown’s Millbrook Resort on Saturday and is one of three players 12-under the card with a round to play.
Michael Hendry, the last Kiwi to win the tournament (2017), is a further shot back in a share of 10th, while Steven Alker’s challenge fizzled out with an even-par 71, leaving him 10 shots off the pace in31st.
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* ‘Golf is weird’: Canterbury amateur Kazuma Kobori leads Kiwi charge at NZ Open
But Kobori is the best placed New Zealander to deny a ninth Australian winner the past 10 editions of the tournament – not that the Cantabrian would pocket the $297,000 prize a professional winner would pocket.
Australians occupy five of the top-10 spots, with Wools-Cobb holding a two-stroke lead over Chris Wood, the Queenslander who led after the opening two rounds. Japan’s Terumichi Kakazu is third at 14-under.
“You know, that sucks, it sucks making double, man. I’d just been bogey free for f…..g 52 holes, to make a double, not even a bogey,” Kobori lamented after his round.
Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Kiwi golfer Kazuma Kobori in action during round three of the NZ Open in Arrowtown.
After hitting a good drive on the 525m par-5 17th, he opted against laying it up. However, he pulled his second into the left-hand bunker, before flopping his bunker shot into the water trap.
However, he was still optimistic of his chances heading into the final day after holing a seven-foot birdie putt on 18 in frigid conditions.
“That birdie on the last helps, six [shot deficit] is probably too much. Four, five, we can make that work, hopefully.”
Kobori’s touch around the greens was superb, only a host of putts didn’t drop, including two – on holes 9 and 15 – which resulted in rare emotion from the cool-headed amateur.
Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Australian Shae Wools-Cobb will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the NZ Open on Sunday.
Having opened the day by sinking a delicate birdie putt, he dropped to his knees after a similar one burnt the edge on the par-4 ninth.
“Ohh, I don’t know how that missed. And 15, it was dead in the draw short,” Kobori said.
Like Kobori, Wools-Cobb felt the “swirling” winds made life difficult down the stretch, although the Queenslander didn’t have the same problems on the greens.
He made five-consecutive birdies to go out in a sizzling 30, before mixing two more with a bogey on the way in after facing an almost 30-minute wait at the 10th tee due to a congested course.
Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Australian Brendan Jones fired a sizzling 9-under 62 on ‘moving day’ at the NZ Open on Saturday.
“I don’t even know how long the wait was, but it felt like an hour. I had a pretty easy par-five straight up and not birdieing that was a little bit of a dampner, but I’m pretty proud how I made a few birdies coming in,” he said, adding he believed it would take another round of four or five under to win on Sunday.
On a chilly and mostly overcast day, it was 48-year-old Australian Brendan Jones who utilised moving day best, firing a white-hot 9-under 62 to grab a share of fourth.
Having knocked in a 15-foot putt on the second to save par, he bagged consecutive birdies, before knocking in seven more on his way around the composite course.
“I should probably do what I did last night – couple of beers, couple of wines,” he said less than a year after he missed eight of nine cuts on the Japan Tour and came close to calling time on his career.
AT A GLANCE
196: Shae Wools-Cobb (Aus)
198: Chris Wood (Aus)
199: Terumichi Kakazu (Jpn)
200: Brendan Jones (Aus), Rhein Gibson (Aus), Scott Hend (Aus)
201: Kazuma Kobori (NZ), Gunn Charoenkul (Thai), Tomoyo Ikemura (Jpn)
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