Kazuma Kobori birdied the final four holes of his second round to claim a one-shot clubhouse lead at the BMW Australian PGA Championship before play was suspended due to fading light.
The New Zealander, who is full of confidence after his rookie DP World Tour campaign culminated in him reaching the DP World Tour Championship earlier this month, carded nine birdies and a solitary bogey in an eight under-under-par 63 to reach ten under through his opening 36 holes.
Australian pair Anthony Quayle and Brett Rankin along with China’s Wenyi Ding are one shot adrift on nine under heading into the weekend at Royal Queensland GC.
It was a day of low scoring in breezy but sunny conditions in Brisbane, with first-round leader Sebastian Garcia the only player in the top 30 on the leaderboard at the end of play to be over par for his second round.
Kobori, who made a hole-in-one in an opening 69 on Thursday, made a pair of back-to-back birdies, initially at the second and third before closing out his front nine with gains at the eighth and ninth.
A fifth birdie of the round soon followed at the 12th, and while he dropped a shot at the 14th for the second day in a row, he responded in fine fashion as his putter continuously served him well down the stretch.
“I struck the ball really well coming in after I snap-hooked one down the trees on 14,” Kobori said afterwards. “I don’t know, something must have clicked and then started flagging it and then…I was putting well all day, so yeah, rolled a couple in and that was that.
“It was nothing crazy. I flagged it on 15, holed a four-footer, stumped it on the next hole, a five, six-footer, and then stumped it on the next hole, a five footer again. And then on the last, like a nine, ten-footer. I’m not really good at finding out how long those putts are. I just feel it out. But yeah, no, it was good to hit it good. And then finish on a high.
“Yesterday was a bit frustrating. I had a hole-in-one but didn’t do much a part from that but I made up for that today which was good.
“I’m just trying to get a little bit better at golf every day. Whether I play on the Aussie Tour, or if I play back in New Zealand, the DP World Tour or on the PGA TOUR, play Majors, I’m just trying to get a little bit better at golf. I feel like today I learned a little bit about my game today and then I’ll use that moving forward.”
Min Woo Lee, who won this event in 2023, is one of four golfers a shot further back on eight under par alongside fellow Australian Christopher Wood, Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia and Tom Vaillant of France.
Round two will resume tomorrow at 6:00am local time, with round three to follow as a two-tee U-draw, not starting before 7:30am.
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