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A double dose of practice rounds at Two Wells Golf Club in Adelaide paid off handsomely for Simon Pope who claimed the inaugural Cobar Legends Pro-Am on the sand scrapes of Cobar Bowling and Golf Club.
The heavens opened on the eve of the tournament and dumped 50mm of rain 700 kilometres west of Sydney, the equivalent of more than 12 per cent of Cobar’s average annual rainfall.
That forced the closure of the course and the cancellation of Round 1, PGA Legends Tour players conducting chipping competitions in the backyards of their accommodation and partaking in some of Cobar’s social offerings.
Players were able to get on course on Sunday with Pope’s 4-under 67 three strokes better than the rest of the field, Warren Legends winner Adam Henwood snaring second at 1-under 70.
For Pope, getting accustomed to sand greens before leaving Adelaide proved to be the difference on challenging surfaces.
“I had two practice rounds on sand scrapes last week at a course in Adelaide called Two Wells so I did a bit of preparation,” said Pope.
“It was hard trying to judge the speed of the scrapes. Some of them ran on, some of them stopped but I was surprised that I won by three. I was happy with that.”
HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Drawn to start from the 11th tee on the more difficult part of the golf course, Pope defied convention and burst out to an early lead.
He birdied the 368-metre par-4 12th and the 386-metre par-4 14th before making eagle at the par-5 17th.
As the rest of the field wrestled with par, Pope moved out to 5-under with birdie at the short par-4 fifth, his only blemish coming on his final hole where he made bogey.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“I started on the tough part of the course and I thought to myself that if I could get through those holes in maybe 2-under, that’s going to be really, really good because the course gets a lot easier after the first and second hole, which was my 10th.
“I did look at the scoreboard and got a bit nervous so I didn’t really capitalise on the easier holes but a lot of the damage for me came on the harder holes where I made some birdies that were really helpful.
“I just thought that as long as I played good golf tee to green and keep it steady around the scrapes everything will be fine.
“My short game sometimes can be a little dicey so when you’re playing on scrapes you tend not to worry about being too fine with your chipping, you just belt it and get it around the hole.
“I putted well from about 10 feet today. I holed five or six putts from eight to 10 feet which I think would have been the difference.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Simon Pope 67
2 Adam Henwood 70
T3 Tony Collier 72
T3 Simon Jagot 72
T3 Paul Powell 72
T3 Brad Burns 72
T3 Nigel Weldon 72
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour heads west now for the two-day Mitchell & Brown Spalding Park Legends Open at Spalding Park Golf Club in Geraldton, played in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Spalding Park Pro-Am.
A free drop from a stubborn snake helped Curtis Luck set a new course record and earn a share of the lead on day one of the Sanwell Cottesloe Open at Cottesloe Golf Club in Perth.
Enjoying a rare trip home from his commitments on the Korn Ferry Tour in the US and at the course he called home as a junior, Luck and Braden Becker both established a new men’s benchmark as Kathryn Norris set a new women’s course record.
One of the most popular stops on the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series drew a star-laden field not only for the open event but for the Lyndsay Stephen Cottesloe Invitational, a PGA Legends Tour event played in conjunction.
South Australian Jason Norris leads the senior event with a round of 4-under 68 but is three strokes behind both Becker and Luck who set a new course record of 7-under 65 following design changes made by Graham Marsh Golf Design.
Luck had eight birdies in his round of 65 that was aided by an unusual ruling following a wayward tee shot.
“The one tee shot that was in a bit of trouble nestled right in close to a snake,” Luck revealed post-round.
“We tried to get it to move so I could play the shot and the thing was just not budging and ended up staying in the bush that I needed to pretty much stand on.
“Got a nice drop from that which was lucky.
“I haven’t spent a lot of time here over the past seven years which is weird considering I spent pretty much every day here for the first 20 years of my life.
“It’s really nice seeing a lot of familiar faces out there and the home crowds there to watch is awesome.”
In a field boasting current DP World Tour players in Jason Scrivener and Haydn Barron and former DP World Tour winners Brett Rumford, Marcus Fraser and Scott Strange, Becker went bogey-free having gleaned some insight from playing with close friend Cameron John at the WA PGA Foursomes mid-week.
John went on to win at Kwinana on Friday and Becker is hoping to turn their foursomes strategy into his own success on Sunday.
“Playing the Foursomes on Thursday, I learnt a bit of stuff playing with Cam John,” said Becker.
“Obviously we talked about a few things that we should be focusing on, going at flags or going for centre-greens so I kept that in the back of my head.
“I played away from the pins on a few of them and see if I can roll in a couple. I’m good with the putter so if I can give myself half a chance to get things going then we’ll do it that way.”
John is part of a four-way tie for third just one stroke back at 6-under followed by Foursomes champions Josh Greer and Nathan Barbieri and Brett Rumford and Zinyo Garcia, all at 5-under.
While pleased to plunder birdies on Saturday, Becker expects Cottesloe’s coastal setting to throw up some more challenging conditions in the final round.
“I think it might be a bit more like we normally play Cottesloe with the wind in the afternoon so that might be a bit more like we normally like to see it,” he added.
“If we can keep doing the same thing – keep hitting it on the fairway, hit it on the green and hole a couple of putts – we’ll be right back up there.”
Norris is in a tie for 16th after her course-record round of 3-under 69, a mark that could have been one better if not for a lone bogey on the par-4 18th.
Tied for 12th at Kwinana, Norris continued her outstanding recent play with birdies at one, eight, 11 and 16 to be level with Rick Kulacz, Marcus Fraser, Brady Watt, Jordan Doull and John Boulton.
Round 2 begins at 7am AWST with the final group of Becker, Luck and Lachlan Aylen to tee off at 12:40pm.
Victorian Cameron John is starting to make winning a habit, taking out the DJ Di Stasio Transport Kwinana Pro-Am at Kwinana Golf Club on Friday.
Champion at the season-ending National Tournament on the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, John led after Round 1 before finishing third at the South West Isuzu South West Open a week ago.
He and close friend Braden Becker were tied for second at the WA PGA Foursomes Championship at Nedlands and he carried that form into Kwinana, posting 6-under 66 to win by two in his fourth appearance at Kwinana Golf Club.
West Australian Ben Ferguson built his 4-under 68 on a run of four-straight birdies to snare second, one clear of James Marchesani (69), Scott Strange (69) and Jordan Doull (69), making his professional debut after representing WA at the Australian Interstate Teams Matches earlier in the week.
HOW THE WINNING ROUND UNFOLDED
Paired with fellow professionals Caleb Bovalina and Jose De Sousa and starting from the par-4 eighth, John took just two holes to get into red figures.
He cashed in a birdie at the 505-metre par-5 ninth and then picked up three birdies in the space of four holes from the par-5 12th.
He continued to take advantage of the three-shotters with birdies at 18 and one and, despite a dropped shot at the par-3 third, got back to 6-under on his round with a birdie at the par-3 sixth.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“Obviously had a great day with the boys. I was fortunate to play in an all-pro group with guys that I have known for a long time.
“There weren’t too many tricky situations that I got myself into, which was nice. I managed to hit most of the greens and holed a few putts as well.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
1 Cameron John 66
2 Ben Ferguson 68
T3 James Marchesani 69
T3 Scott Strange 69
T3 Jordan Doull 69
T6 Marcus Fraser 70
T6 Jarryd Felton 70
T6 Brady Watt 70
T6 Andrew Kelly 70
T6 Jason Norris 70
NEXT UP
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series continues its WA swing at the ever-popular Sanwell Cottesloe Open this weekend at Cottesloe Golf Club.
Cooma’s David Crawford has credited his country upbringing for earning a share of victory at the Warren Golf Club Legends Pro-Am in the New South Wales Central West.
Likely the first professional golf event ever staged on a golf course with 12 grass greens and six sand greens, Warren Golf Club presented the PGA Legends Tour players with a unique playing experience.
Crawford and Victorian Adam Henwood handled the test best, finishing tied at the top with rounds of 1-under 69, one clear of PGA TOUR winner Peter Lonard (70) and Tony Collier (70).
In his second year on the Legends Tour, it served as a reminder of Crawford’s earliest days playing the game.
“It’s a long time ago since I played sand greens; I thought I might have lost the touch,” said Crawford.
“But as soon as I got back onto them it was quite easy to bring back the memories and play them how they’re supposed to be played.
“It was fantastic.”
HOW THE WINNING ROUNDS UNFOLDED
Although they started on opposite sides of the golf course, both Crawford and Henwood did the bulk of their scoring on the front nine.
Henwood was quick out of the blocks with birdies at both one and two, adding a third at the par-5 sixth to be 3-under early in his round.
Bogeys at nine and 10 were offset somewhat by a birdie on 11, a dropped shot at the short par-4 17th dropping Henwood to a 1-under total.
Crawford had to fight back late after starting his round from the 10th tee.
A bogey on 11 and 10 pars in his opening 11 holes had Crawford at 1-over but three birdies in the space of five holes vaulted him to the top of the leaderboard.
The outright win was there for the taking only for Crawford to bogey his final hole, the tough 423-metre par-4 ninth.
WHAT THE WINNER SAID
“It was a great experience,” said Crawford.
“It’s certainly a different golf course to some of the other golf courses that we tend to play on this tour.
“Certainly the back nine was very testing. I basically treated that as though if I could get pars around there and not too damage and then get onto the open paddocks at the back end and pick up a few shots.
“Overall the club and the area was absolutely fantastic.”
LEADERBOARD RUNDOWN
T1 Adam Henwood 69
T1 David Crawford 69
T3 Tony Collier 70
T3 Peter Lonard 70
T5 Peter Jones 71
T5 Guy Wall 71
T5 Brad Burns 71
NEXT UP
The PGA Legends Tour continues its ground-breaking run in western New South Wales with the two-day Cobar Legends Pro-Am on the sand greens of the Cobar Bowls and Golf Club starting Saturday.
Matching socks saluting Collingwood star Nick Daicos proved to be a lucky charm as Josh Greer and Nathan Barbieri claimed the WA PGA Foursomes Championship at Nedlands Golf Club.
Greer and Barbieri were among a group of four players with the unique sock game but it was Greer and Barbieri who emerged victorious, their round of 5-under 67 enough for a one-stroke win.
Legends Tour pair Andre Stolz and Brendan Chant and close mates Braden Becker and Cameron John were eyeing off a possible playoff after posting 4-under 68, only to be pipped at the post.
Alex Simpson backed up from his share of victory at the Wembley Pro-Am to snare fourth with Jayden Cripps with 2-under 70.
For Sydney’s Barbieri, it was a rewarding first look at the former host venue of the Nedlands Masters.
“It was fun; it was a good day,” said Barbieri, he and Greer paired with Haydn Barron and Ben Ferguson and Jarryd Felton and James Marchesani.
“First time at Nedlands. Everyone was raving about how good it was and I loved it. It’s a little bit dinky but it’s fun. It’s a good track for foursomes, I really enjoyed it.
“We obviously had a really good group with the boys and had a little money game going as well, which kept it interesting.”
The WA swing of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series continues on Friday with the DJ Di Stasio Transport Kwinana Pro-Am at Kwinana Golf Club.
An eagle and three birdies in his final four holes elevated West Australian legend Brett Rumford to a five-way tie at the GMW & Radlink Wembley Pro-Am.
Straight off the plane after a week at the CJ CUP Byron Nelson tournament in Texas, Rumford was shrugging off jetlag as he played his first seven holes of the adidas PGA Pro-Am Series event in 1-over par.
Birdies at eight, 10 and 11 brought the six-time DP World Tour champion into the mix but it would be the eagle at the par-5 17th and chip-in for birdie on 18 that saw the 46-year-old post 6-under 66 at the Wembley Golf Course Old Course where he now coaches.
He was one of five players to post 66 along with fellow veteran Daniel Fox, Ryan Peake, Brody Martin and Alexander Simpson.
Rumford wasn’t the only player to close out their round with a birdie.
Bogey-free, Fox made his sixth and final birdie at the par-4 14th, Peake made birdie at the par-4 eighth while Simpson needed birdies at both 16 and 17 to also earn a share of victory.
Dillon Hart, Brady Watt and James Marchesani all shared sixth position just one back with rounds of 5-under 67, Deyen Lawson and Josh Greer among the five players to finish tied for ninth at 4-under.
Rumford is partnering with Scott Strange on Thursday for the WA PGA Foursomes Championship to be played at Nedlands Golf Club.
West Australian Minjee Lee is hopeful that the course that sparked her resurgence 12 months ago can again provide the springboard to more major championship success and a possible Olympic medal.
Lee returns to the Upper Montclair Country Club in New Jersey this week for the Cognizant Founders Cup, a tournament that she won in 2022 and lost in a playoff to Jin Young Ko in 2023.
Prior to that week, Lee had not finished inside the top 40 in four starts in the new LPGA Tour season.
She didn’t finish outside the top 20 in the seven starts that followed and went on to win twice before the end of the year.
Although tied for fourth at the Blue Bay LPGA in March, the 27-year-old has missed three of her past four cuts and, with the US Women’s Open just three weeks away, could use a shot pf confidence.
It’s why coming back to a course where she has enjoyed success prior presents a prime opportunity.
“I really love the test of this golf course,” said Lee.
“The rough is always a little bit thicker here and it’s quite tight off the tee.
“I just like the character of the golf course. It’s just a little bit different.
“The more challenging the better. I can picture the shots a little bit better when it’s a little tighter.
“I just kind of like the test of it. The greens are always a little bit faster and trickier.”
3-hole challenge with Special Olympics, @Lexi and @gracekimeyy was a smashing success 💪 pic.twitter.com/zIHILs4aAF
— LPGA (@LPGA) May 8, 2024
A two-time major champion, Lee has now slipped behind Hannah Green as Australia’s top-ranked player on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking.
Lee knows that the coming months of majors and Olympic Games representation will pass her by if she doesn’t find form soon.
“It’s weird how quickly it goes, already in May,” she said.
“Just had our first major and we have four more left in such a short chunk of time.
“They’re going to be my big focus; obviously the Olympics as well. That’s always a really big thing for me as well.”
Lee is among the nine Aussies in the field and begins her tournament at 9:59pm Thursday night AEST.
In their final tune-up before next week’s US PGA Championship, Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cam Davis are teeing it up in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow and the Australian contingent is six deep at the Regions Tradition on the PGA TOUR Champions leading into the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in two weeks’ time.
Photo: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
Round 1 tee times AEST
PGA TOUR
Wells Fargo Championship
Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina
1:11am* Jason Day
2:06am* Adam Scott
2:17am* Cam Davis
Defending champion: Wyndham Clark
Past Aussie winners:
Prize money: $US20 million
TV times: Live 9:30pm-8am Thursday; Live 11:30pm-8am Friday; Live 10:30pm-8am Saturday; Live 9:15pm-8am Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Myrtle Beach Classic
The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
9:56pm* Harrison Endycott
2:14am Aaron Baddeley
2:47am* Ryan Fox (NZ)
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US4 million
TV times: Live 11:30pm-1:30am Thursday, Friday; Live 6am-7am Sunday; 8am-10am Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
LPGA Tour
Cognizant Founders Cup
Upper Montclair Country Club, Clifton, New Jersey
9:26pm Sarah Kemp
9:48pm* Robyn Choi
9:59pm* Minjee Lee
10:10pm* Hannah Green
10:21pm* Gabriela Ruffels
10:32pm* Grace Kim
2:48am Stephanie Kyriacou
3:10am Lydia Ko (NZ)
3:10am* Hira Naveed
3:54am* Karis Davidson
Defending champion: Jin Young Ko
Past Aussie winners: Karrie Webb (2011, 2014), Minjee Lee (2022)
Prize money: $US3 million
TV times: Live 5am-8am Friday on Fox Sports 506; Live 5am-8am Saturday; Live 6am-8am Sunday; Live 5am-8am Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
Japan Golf Tour
For The Players By The Players
THE CLUB Golf Village, Gunma
9:28am* Anthony Quayle
12:52pm* Michael Hendry (NZ)
1:25pm* Brad Kennedy
Defending champion: Shintaro Kobayashi
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: ¥5 million
PGA TOUR Champions
Regions Tradition
Greystone G&CC, Birmingham, Alabama
12:20am Richard Green
12:42am John Senden
12:53am* Mark Hensby
1:04am* Stuart Appleby
1:37am* Rod Pampling
1:59am* Steve Allan, Michael Campbell (NZ)
2:21am Steven Alker (NZ)
Defending champion: Steve Stricker
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1999)
Prize money: $US2.6 million
TV times: Live 1:30am-4am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 505; Live 7am-9am Sunday on Fox Sports 506; Live 7am-9am Monday on Fox Sports 507 and Kayo.
Ladies European Tour
Aramco Team Series Presented by PIF – Korea
New Korea Country Club, Korea
Australasians in the field: Kirsten Rudgeley, Momoka Kobori (NZ)
Defending champion: Pauline Roussin-Bouchard
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US1 million
TV times: Live 4pm-8pm Friday; Live 4pm-7:30pm Saturday; Live 3pm-7pm Sunday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
Korean PGA
KPGA Classic
Golf Zone County Yeongam 45
7:50am Sungjin Yeo (NZ)
9:15am* Wonjoon Lee
12:30pm Kevin Chun (NZ)
2pm Junseok Lee
Defending champion: Inaugural event
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: KRW 700 million
Epson Tour
Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic
TPC Scottsdale (Champions Cse), Scottsdale, Arizona
1:28am Su Oh
5:45am Fiona Xu (NZ)
5:56am* Cassie Porter
6:07am* Amelia Garvey (NZ)
Defending champion: Gabriela Ruffels
Past Aussie winners: Gabriela Ruffels (2023)
Prize money: $US400,000
Just seven months ago, Kazuma Kobori left the amateur game with a tremendous record and simple goal, with the Kiwi unable to predict his meteoric rise in the professional ranks that continues with a major debut at next week’s PGA Championship.
Turning pro at the Queensland PGA Championship in November, Kobori’s game had earned global attention in the amateur ranks, yet the now 22-year-old wasn’t getting ahead of himself.
“Starting my professional career in November, I was like, ‘I’m just going to try and keep an Aussie Tour card this year. Maybe grab a top-10 Order of Merit to get me into second stage Q school for Europe’,” Kobori said yesterday.
Doing far more than that, Kobori claimed the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit crown after a dream debut season that means he has a guaranteed DP World Tour card next season, as well as a start at The 152nd Open at Royal Troon.
His achievement of topping the season-long points list on his home circuit was cause for the PGA of America to extend in invite for the year’s second major to be held at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky as it did to his predecessor David Micheluzzi last year.
Learning of his invitation upon waking on Tuesday morning, Kobori might still be digesting what has transpired as he prepares to make the journey from Canterbury to Louisville.
“It was pretty unexpected. I got a WhatsApp message this morning (Tuesday) when I woke up at seven and my manager was like, ‘You’re in the PGA’,” Kobori said.
“I knew he was pushing for the invite but because my word ranking’s not quite as good as some of the other players in the world, I didn’t think I’ll get it.”
Making his major debut two months earlier than expected, Kobori’s hot start to life in the play-for-pay ranks no doubt piqued the interest of the PGA of America, so too others with invites extended to DP World Tour and Asian Tour events.
Winning three Webex Players Series events in the space of four weeks on his way to the Order of Merit title, his start at Valhalla will be just the 15th of Kobori’s pro career.
Recent appearances on the DP World Tour, and now the PGA Championship, are offering him a chance to measure his game against the world’s best.
“To be honest, I just want to want to be able to play my game so by the end of the week, I’ll have a really good understanding on where my game compares,” the New Zealander said of his approach to the PGA.
“This is one of four times, I guess you can count the Olympics as well, but very rare occasions where I can play against the best in the world. So I’m going to use this as an opportunity to have a bit of a benchmark to see where I’m at.”
Hoping to “stay out of my own way”, Kobori plans to reach out to experienced compatriot Ryan Fox on the topic of playing a major, and perhaps a practice round, while time spent with DP World Tour winner Daniel Hillier has helped develop an understanding of the next steps up the professional golf ladder.
“Honestly, just spending time around him has probably been the best one,” Kobori said of Hillier.
“He doesn’t really give me advice or anything, and it’s not that I really need it, I just need to be able to see how he operates and then set my standards based on that.
“Playing against good players definitely enables me to set high standards and then that’s been very beneficial for my game.”
Admitting to having few memories of the last PGA Championship at Valhalla in 2014, when Rory McIlroy won his most recent major and Kobori was just three years into his golfing journey, the former Eisenhower Trophy individual winner is attempting to create familiarity and comfort quickly.
His occasional caddie last season, Tyler Wood, will be on the bag and perhaps looking to his boss for the week for inspiration after gaining a Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia card at the recent Qualifying School.
Meanwhile a well-timed round should hold Kobori in good stead ahead of the biggest start of his burgeoning career.
“I actually had a round, or a session, with a sports psychologist today (Tuesday) that I work with, and he just said, honestly, just be a bit more mindful of everything you’re doing,” Kobori said.
“Everything’s just going to be a little bit more, like the crowd’s going to be a bit bigger, the nerves are going to be a bit bigger, so just be a bit more mindful of what you’re doing. Whether it be breathing, your nutrition, your gym work, your practice and all that.
“That was his advice and I’m going to take it on board.”
Kobori joins fellow Australasians Fox, Cam Davis, Jason Day, Min Woo Lee, Adam Scott, Cam Smith and Lucas Herbert, who also received a special invite, in the field for the 106th PGA Championship.
The 2024 PGA Championship is live on Fox Sports, available on Foxtel and Kayo.
A number of new scholarships have been launched to give more students the opportunity to study at Australia’s only golf registered training organisation, the PGA Institute.
As a leader in education for the golf industry, the PGA Institute prepares students for a successful future, offering distinctive programs that equip students with the essential knowledge and skills required to excel in the broad world of golf.
The new scholarships have been launched to help encourage diversity and inclusion in the golf industry.
PGA of Australia Chief Executive Officer Gavin Kirkman is pleased to support the next generation of golf industry leaders.
“At the PGA Institute, we blend business, golf training, hospitality, and sports education to shape the next generation of golf industry leaders,” he said.
“Our new scholarships pave the way for aspiring professionals seeking excellence in golf management, sport, and business.
“The PGA Institute is a gateway to a career in the golf industry. Our innovative courses, backed by the PGA of Australia, and partnerships with top higher education providers like Griffith, Deakin and Torrens Universities, as well as Holmesglen Institute offer diverse career pathways.”
The new scholarships fall under four distinct areas where the PGA Institute has seen that its support can bolster a robust golf industry for the future.
One area of opportunity is to develop regional golf operations by providing assistance to regional clubs to upskill their staff, and for students residing in regional areas an opportunity to take a step towards working in the golf industry.
Another is to provide an educational pathway for metropolitan Melbourne students to provide recent year 12 graduates the opportunity to study the diploma of Golf Management at the Institute and earn credits for bachelor degrees at Holmesglen Tafe.
The “Achieving Potential” scholarships are focussed on providing Indigenous Australian students the opportunity to study at the Institute, while the final area of focus is on international students and affording them the opportunity to live, work and study in Melbourne.
“Whether you are starting out in the golf industry or want to upskill yourself or your staff our comprehensive programs blend business and management, and golf training expertise. This is an opportunity to progress your career in the sports or management field,” said Kirkman.
To find out more about these new scholarships, and details on the application process, click HERE.
Kazuma Kobori has gained another reward for claiming last season’s Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, with the Kiwi set to make his major championship debut next week at the PGA Championship.
Following in the footsteps of the previous Order of Merit winner David Micheluzzi on the pathway provided for the region’s best players to access the game’s biggest events, Kobori has received a special invitation into the year’s second men’s major.
Micheluzzi made his majors debut in last year’s PGA Championship.
The invitation from the PGA of America was extended due to Kobori’s victory on the season-long points list in Australasia, with the 22-year-old’s outstanding beginning to his professional career and achievements as an amateur clearly not going unnoticed around the world.
After turning professional in November at the Queensland PGA, Kobori claimed three Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia titles in the early months of 2024 on his way to the Order of Merit crown that had already secured him a DP World Tour card for next season.
Planning on commencing his major career at The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon this July, another perk of winning his home Tour’s Order of Merit, the New Zealander was alerted in the early hours of Tuesday morning of his invitation.
The world No.432 is now headed for Kentucky and Valhalla Golf Club with the opportunity to test his game against the world’s best players.
