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 2023.

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.

By February 2024 he had already won three times on the PGA Tour of Australasia’s Webex Players Series to enter the sport’s top 500 and he went on to make his first major appearances that year at the PGA Championship and The Open.

He now returns to The Open at Royal Birkdale having progressed through Final Qualifying at West Lancashire. A nine-under total for 36 holes was enough to finish tied-second behind Sam Bairstow, another player who enjoyed a sterling amateur career.