Emerging golf talent Momoka Kobori has already banked the first pay cheque of her professional career.
The 21-year-old Cantabrian put her name in lights last weekend, creating history as the first female winner of a mixed field New Zealand PGA event.
Kobori finished tied for first alongside Harry Bateman at the two-day 36-hole Whitford Park Pro Am in Auckland at eight-under.
It was some effort from Kobori in a talented 50-player field, which included New Zealand men’s No.1 Ryan Fox, Gareth Paddison, Mark Brown, Josh Geary, and former New Zealand Eisenhower representative Daniel Hillier.
New Zealand Golf have embraced the mixed gender format on the Charles Tour circuit, which sees male and female golfers competing for the same trophy and purse – playing alongside each other.
At the Whitford Park Pro-Am, Kobori was playing off the slightly shorter women’s tees, but the mixed field format aims to make the competition as fair as possible, creating a level playing field.
Kobori pocketed $3500 after finishing tied for first and has already banked the prize money – her first earnings since swapping the amateur ranks for the pros.
“I’m pretty happy with it – pretty stoked with it,” she told Stuff.
“It does mean a lot to be the first female winner in any of the Pro-Ams [in New Zealand]. It’s a bit of a cool thing to do.”
Kobori’s long-term dream is to one day play on the LPGA circuit alongside Lydia Ko, but the Covid-19 pandemic has scuppered any hope of featuring at the tournament’s qualifying school.
Next month, Kobori will begin a three-year New Zealand PGA coaching traineeship at the Pegasus Golf Club in North Canterbury, which will provide her with another outlet, outside playing.
