Kazuma Kobori of New Zealand during the 103rd New Zealand Open, Queenstown, 2024. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Young New Zealand golf star Kazuma Kobori will play the British Open this year.
The 22 year old has been officially declared the PGA of Australasia Order of Merit champion.
Kobori has won three times since January.
Kobori won the 2019 New Zealand PGA Championship as an amateur and took the individual title at the 2023 Eisenhower Trophy.
It is a rapid ascension for a 22-year-old who only turned professional at the start of November and who, midway through the season, was concerned that he wouldn't keep his card.
But the golf world is soon to open up to him, including an exemption to the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon in July.
"I was just trying to get the DP World Tour card for next year and then my manager called me a couple of days after NZ Open and said that I had The Open sealed up too," said Kobori.
"That's pretty cool. For me, it was a bit of a bonus because I actually didn't know that was part of the deal.
"Needless to say, I'll take it."
Given that he didn't take up golf seriously until he was 12 years of age, Kobori's earliest memories of major championships are post-2010, when Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth were at their most dominant.
He is now coming to terms with the fact that he will play The Open Championship alongside them in just four months' time.
"Obviously Tiger Woods was pretty dominant at the major championships but I started golf a bit later, when I was 10. Properly started playing when I was 12 so 2010 onwards, the guys playing major championships, those really stuck to me," he added.
"Rory, Jordan Spieth winning The Open Championship, stuff like that.
"To be able to play in that tournament myself is something that I am really looking forward to."