Brown, Lim win strokeplay titles
Experience triumphed over youth as Luke Brown overhauled teenager Kazuma Kobori to win the men’s New Zealand Stroke Play Championship in a thriller at the Christchurch Golf Club yesterday.
Northland left-hander Brown, a regular New Zealand representative, made eagle on the 18th to seal a one-shot victory over Kobori and end the Canterbury 17-year-old’s quest for back-toback titles.
Kobori was in the box seat to repeat his win against the professionals at the NZ PGA Championship three weeks ago when he entered the final round with a two-stroke lead over Brown after a stunning third round of eightunder-par 64.
By the halfway point yesterday, Brown hauled it back to hold a share of the lead, and he had one hand on the trophy when he built a two-stroke lead with six holes to play.
A bogey from Brown and a birdie from Kobori on 17 brought it back to level pegging entering the par-four 18th, but Brown applied the pressure by driving the green on the 317m hole.
Kobori (70) sank a 15-foot putt for birdie to apply the pressure but Brown responded with a superb pressure putt of his own from similar distance to clinch it with a two. He finished with a four-under 67 and an 11-under total.
The pair were well clear of two more Canterbury players, Matthew McLean (four-under) and Hiroki Miya (one-under), the only others to break par in the men’s field.
The women’s event was a onehorse race as Auckland teenager Carmen Lim claimed a breakthrough victory by seven shots.
Starting the day four shots ahead of runner-up and fellow Aucklander Vivian Lu, Lim never gave her a chance as she signed for a five-under 69 and a 16-under total on the par-74 layout.
The 15-year-old joined some big names on the trophy including her idol Lydia Ko who won back in 2011.