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Kazuma Kobori’s trip to the US to gain some experience has turned into the Canterbury golfer landing the second biggest prize in the amateur ranks and a series of potentially career-changing exemptions.
The 21-year-old sank a challenging 20-foot putt on the 18th at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois to defeat South Africa’s Christiaan Maas by a single shot in the 121st Western Amateur over the weekend.
Kobori becomes just the second Kiwi to win the Western Amateur – second only to the US Amateur in terms of significance and prestige – following LIV Golf star Danny Lee, who won the event way back in 2009.
“It feels incredible, it really does,” Kobori said immediately after defeating Maas.
“Coming to the [United] States this year, I played seven events, but I never thought I’d win one.
Hannah Peters/Getty Images
Kazuma Kobori has won the prestigious Western Amateur in Glenview, Illinois.
“For me to be holding this now, it feels unreal,” Kobori said as he clung to the Western Amateur trophy.
The Western Amateur format involves 156 invited players from around the world who compete in individual stroke play to whittle down the field to the final 16, who then compete in a knockout individual match play.
Kobori and Maas were both ultra-consistent, with neither able to land a lead of more than two shots and for most of the round, they couldn’t be separated.
But it was the South African who finally cracked when he made a bogey on 17.
The Kiwi held his nerve on the 18th to take the victory, 1-up.
Taking out the prestigious tournament lands Kobori far more than just the Western Amateur.
He also clinched the 2023 Elite Amateur Series championship, an exemption to the 2023 US Amateur and an exemption into the final qualifying round of the 2024 US Open.
He will also earn a yet-to-be-announced PGA Tour exemption and one 2024 Korn Ferry Tour start.
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