Kazuma Kobori

Kobori was born in Japan, but his family moved to New Zealand when he was six and he represented them in the Eisenhower Trophy World Amateur Team Championship in both 2022 and last year.

On the second of those occasions in Abu Dhabi he finished as leading individual, producing a closing 65 to pip US Amateur champion Nick Dunlap by one.

Kobori had made a name for himself long before that, however. In 2019, aged just 17, he won the New Zealand PGA title on his home course Pegasus in North Canterbury after pre-qualifying for the event the previous Monday.

Last season he added the Australian Amateur and Western Amateur in Chicago. He would have earned an Open exemption if he had lifted the Asia-Pacific Amateur in Melbourne in October, but after coming sixth there he turned professional.

By mid-February he had already won three times on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Webex Players Series to enter the sport’s top 500 and following his major debut at May’s PGA Championship he now takes one of the five Open spots offered via the Federation Ranking list.