NZ’s Kazuma Kobori grabs halfway lead at Australian PGA Championship
Friday, 28 November 2025
Kazuma Kobori has again stolen the headlines at the Australian PGA Championship.
The New Zealand golfer shot a sensational second round of eight-under 63 in Brisbane on Friday to lead the tournament at the midway stage.
Christchurch’s Kobori, who made a hole-in-one in his opening round of 69, finished his round with four consecutive birdies to sit at 10-under, one ahead of three players at -9.
Ryan Fox appeared destined to be the leading New Zealander at the midway stage.
However, a number of errors on the back nine at the Royal Queensland Golf Club in Brisbane on Friday left the world No 41 four shots off the lead.
New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier is two shots off the pace at -7, and fellow Kiwi Nick Voke jumped up the leaderboard with a second-round five-under 67.
He shares 21st place with Fox, who is coming off an eight-week tournament hiatus. Fox shot 67 on Thursday, only to slip to 70 when backing up.
The two-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2025 is attempting to become the first Kiwi winner of the DP World Tour season-opener since Greg Turner in 1999.
Hillier lifted himself into winning contention, as the rising Wellington professional shot 67, with five birdies as his sole bogey of the day coming on the penultimate hole
The second-ranked New Zealander in the field narrowly missed out on a prized PGA Tour card in the United Arab Emirates recently.
He pocketed $180,000 for his 16th-equal finish at 11-under-par in the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, but the result wasn’t quite enough to snare him one of 10 dual memberships on offer for the PGA Tour in 2026.
Fox was in fine form early in his second round, making birdie at the 2nd hole and then almost knocking in his approach at the par-4 third for an eagle.
That tap-in birdie was soon followed by an excellent birdie putt on the fifth to get to -3 for the day. He missed a great birdie chance on the par-5 7th but didn’t miss the same opportunity two holes later to end the front nine four-under for his round and just a shot off the lead.
A bogey on 10 and another missed birdie putt on 11 cooled his fire, but when he curled in a birdie on 13, Fox was still on the first page of the leaderboard. Yet a mis-hit fairway bunker shot on 15 was followed by a poor short putt when trying to save bogey, and another limp effort with the putter on 17 brought about another dropped shot.
His day finished in disappointing fashion when a relatively easy putt for birdie on the last hole horseshoed out of the cup.
Fox said on Thursday that his expectations weren’t overly high, coming off rounds with his mates in New Zealand, time with coach Marcus Wheelhouse but no serious tournament play.
The Australian duo of Brett Rankin and Anthony Quayle, and China’s Wenyi Ding, are a shot behind Kobori after two rounds at nine-under. Rankin got to 11-under during his second round, but a mistake with his chip on 17 led to a double bogey.
Voke, ranked 559 in the world, shot up the leaderboard with seven birdies and two bogeys, picking up five birdies in his last seven holes.
A par round from NZ’s Josh Geary left him at -3 and playing the weekend, while a sixth Kiwi, Denzel Ieremia, shot 68 to make the cut at -2.