Nor the chasing pack that showed there were plenty of birdies on offer around the stunning piece of land.

Louis Dobbelaar, playing in the group ahead of the co-leaders, authored a six-under 65, that could have been even better if not for a bogey at the par-4 last.

Meanwhile in the final group David Micheluzzi, a Peninsula Kingswood member, had one more shot in his bogey free round, but the day had a feel that all were playing for second behind the duelling pair of unlikely combatants in the diminutive Kobori and towering Davis.

Micheluzzi and Dobbelaar ultimately finished third and fourth respectively, but it was Davis who looked as if he might run away with things early.

Three straight birdies from the 1st saw him reach 15-under for the tournament, while Kobori could only manage one over the same stretch to sit two back at 13-under.

The New Zealander clawed back into a share of the lead after birdies at the 7th and 8th, the latter once again showing her grit and determination.

Kobori and her coach Azzopardi were still all smiles down the last. PHOTO: Paul Shire.

Davis sailed his driver at the reachable par-4 into the left greenside bunker, while Kobori’s slightly miscued effort found the right rough. Her wedge was pin high left to the same 15 foot distance where she had made her course record scores the previous two days at Yarra Yarra and Royal Melbourne.

She of course, as she did all week, holed out for three, while Davis missed his birdie try.

Kobori then briefly held the lead by two at 17-under when she birdied the 11th before back-to-back bogeys dropped her back to level with Davis at the completion of the 13th.

It was matching pars from there until the penultimate hole, where the club that most clearly separated the pair all week proved the difference.

Finding the right side of the fairway from the tee, Davis uncorked a driver off the deck that skirted its way between the bunkers short right and those greenside left to sit just beyond the pin.

Davis was in full flight on Thursday. PHOTO: Paul Shire.

“I have hit a lot of good drivers off the deck under pressure in the past,” Davis told Golf Australia magazine of the shot. “I haven’t played it as much over the last few months, but I feel like even though I don’t practice it that much, under pressure if I put a good swing on it I kind of know what it is going to do, and that was a situation where I wanted to take the aggressive play and it worked out pretty well.”

Kobori meanwhile hit her 3-wood short of the green followed by another solid wedge to leave a birdie chance.

Davis missed eagle but knocked in his birdie, while the 23-year-old couldn’t match him to send the New South Welshman down the last with a one shot lead.

His drive found the right side waste area, whereas Kobori again found the middle of the mown portion.

A heavily struck second shot came up just short for Davis, while it was pin high for Kobori and a chance to send it to extra holes.

Two putts from both meant the overall title went to Davis at 16-under by a shot, with Kobori winning the women’s professional division by 20 shots from Cassie Porter.

“To be honest, if you feel like you should win, for me I don’t often feel like that on the PGA Tour because of who you are playing against week in, week out. For people to say that is a very new vibe for me, but at the same time it’s a confidence builder. I can walk out and play good golf I am a good chance, but you still have to play the golf,” he said of his pre-tournament favouritism.

“Everything about this week was a new experience, the men and women playing together, the different course each day, the more relaxed vibe but at the same time still got plenty to play for.

“It was a lot of fun, I’d love to come back and do it again.”

He will certainly be welcome, as will Kobori who dazzled everyone who saw her play with her consistency. The new Ladies European Tour member for 2023 taking plenty out of the week alongside her coach and caddie for the week Dom Azzopardi.

RIGHT: The winner and runner-up pose with there new trophies. PHOTO: Paul Shire.

“I think it was definitely a bit of adrenaline coming down the last nine holes,” she said of her closing stretch.

“It was actually good in a way to kind of confirm what my tendencies are coming down those holes in those situations. I am kind of taking it as a learning curve to find out what I am prone to doing.

“I think I played just really solid golf throughout the week and it was just a lot of stuff I have been working on with Dom the last two, three months have started to come together and it was just nice to be able to see myself being able to do that at a four round tournament.”

Another player to impress again at the tournament started by Geoff Ogilvy and Mike Clayton receiving rave reviews once more was women’s amateur winner Amelia Harris.

Just 15 years of age, she closed with a 74 to win by one shot over Jazy Roberts, with Harris’ second shot to her last hole, the 10th, on Thursday leaving observers with mouths agape.

Finding the right side fairway bunker, at the par-4 she flushed a 6-iron that cut into the right tucked pin to four feet.

The birdie putt didn’t go in, but it was enough to remind that this is a player with an exciting future, so too Connor McDade who won the men’s amateur trophy at one-under-par.

“Sometimes I can hit good shots from bad spots, but sometimes I can mess up a lot. So just need to get a bit more consistent,” Harris understatedly told this publication of one of the shots of the tournament.

Harris and Kobori’s success highlights the purpose of the dual-gender tournament, while Davis’ credo for the week, one he had to remind himself of on Wednesday night, is the exact reason the tournament is so special.

“I would say yesterday, definitely got away a little bit from the enjoying the Sandbelt into trying to play a really good round of golf and I feel like I got in my own way a little bit more than I should have. Focus of this week was just to soak up every single inch of these golf courses because they are all unbelievable,” Davis said.

“That was the goal today, because everyone raved about this place and come out here and the very first hole you see is unbelievable.

“It was still a little stressful, I still had an idea of where I stood, but very nice play to be and I think that sort of stuff helps to turn it into a really cool day.”