Teenage amateur upsets the pros

Kazuma Kobori, a 17-year-old amateur from Canterbury, has upset David Smail and a host of other leading Australasian professionals to win the NZ PGA Championship.

Playing on his home course, Kobori shot a final round 69 in drizzly conditions yesterday to record a career-best win, over Smail, by four shots – at 21 under – at the Pegasus Golf and Sports Club in North Canterbury.

‘‘It feels incredible,’’ said an ecstatic Kobori. ‘‘It hasn’t actually sunk in yet but I think it will later on.’’

The teenage sensation shot a pair of birdies on the front nine and two more on the back, along with a bogey on 17, to finish three under in his final round. Kobori started the day with a four-shot lead following rounds of 67, 65 and 66.

‘‘I didn’t miss too many greens today.’’ Smail shot a final round 68 with three birdies on the front nine and two more down the back to finish at 17 under.

‘‘I started off not feeling that confident, towards the end yesterday I started hitting some pretty bad shots so I was just trying to keep it in play,’’ said Smail, who as the highest-placed professional took home the first place prize money of $17,555.

‘‘I putted pretty well all week, it’s probably the first time I haven’t had a 3-putt in a tournament week for a long, long time. My playing was good and I just managed to hit enough good shots to get a good score.’’ Smail had plenty of praise for the winner. ‘‘I have seen him play. My son [Charlie] is playing a lot with Kazuma, so I’ve seen plenty of his play over the last few years to know that he’s a real talent. He’s done fantastic this week so it’s good for the future,’’ Smail said.

The victory was Kobori’s first win on the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia.

‘‘I saw the leaderboard on 14, I didn’t know it was there I just accidentally looked at it, saw that I had a four shot lead at that point and I thought that was pretty sweet.

‘‘I just kept playing my own game and then it was all good.’’

Australia’s Cameron John shot a final round 70 to finish third at 16 under.