Either way, as he showed with a 5-under 66 to lead the 2023 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Royal Melbourne by two, Kobori is made of the right stuff to thrive in the amateur or play-for-pay ranks.

For it wasn’t so much the four consecutive birdies that he reeled off on 10, 11, 12 and 13 - after missing a short birdie putt on 9 - or the bonus birdie on 17 that impressed – impressive though they were.

It wasn’t so much the considered way he managed his game around the slick greens, tight lies and sharply-defined bunker edges of the jewel of Melbourne’s famous Sandbelt.

And it wasn’t that he played quality golf on a Melbourne day that turned on all four seasons and added a couple others for no other reason than she is a spiteful and fickle mistress.

No.

Rather, what impressed most about Kobori’s round is that when things were tough at the end, he toughed it out. And on his last last two holes he made his two toughest pars.

And he did it with many people watching.

On his second last hole, the par-4 7th, Kobori was faced with a 30-foot downhill putt that could easily have slid off the front of the green had he missed. He nurdled the ball down there, softly-softly – too softly-softly - and left himself six feet short. It almost didn’t seem possible.

His putt from there was still downhill, of course, and breathed on before falling in left edge – and there followed a very satisfied fist pump by the 22-year-old from Christchurch.

Augusta (not) on his mind: Kiwi Kazuma Kobori plans his next move at Royal Melbourne. PHOTO: AAC.

A pure hybrid split the 8th fairway before he slightly turned over a mid-iron and sent his ball scuttling through the back and onto the cart path bordering the putting green.

There followed perhaps 20 minutes of faffing about as a rules official was called, the slow dance of rules explained, club lengths measured, tees and pencils used as markers.

Meanwhile playing partner Bo Jin had to stop Japan's Masayuki Yamashita from bombing his ball onto the green as Kobori's fellow Kiwi Sammy Jones had already done.

When finally Kobori’s ball was dropped onto a suitable and super-tight fescue surface, a considerable crowd of rubber-neckers, including several television cameras, had formed a semi-circle around Kobori and his attempt at up-and-down.

And then he pulled out the right stuff: a perfect shot under pressure. His tumbling, slightly checking bump-and-run just missed going in and left him with a five-foot uphill putt for par. And when he made that there was another satisfied fist pump.

“It was a hell of a round,” Kobori said afterwards. “If you had given me 5-under at the start of the day, I would have taken that in a heartbeat. Very happy to finish with a 66.

“Obviously you can't win the tournament on the first day but you can kind of knock yourself out of contention pretty quickly.

“The course is so hard and I just wanted to play a round of bogey-free golf. To have the opportunity with two holes to go to do that, that's probably what was on my mind more than the lead or anything like that … that's what the fist pumps were.”

Kazuma Kobori's laser focus was impressive in his 5-under 66 at Royal Melbourne. PHOTO: AAC.

We shouldn’t be surprised. As a 17-year-old he won the New Zealand PGA. In January he won the Australian Amateur at New South Wales.

In August he became the second Kiwi, after Danny Lee in 2008, to win the storied Western Amateur at North Shore Country Club in Illinois and put his name alongside that of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

And before flying into Melbourne from Abu Dhabi - this week, with a head cold - he posted the lowest individual score in the Eisenhower Trophy. 

Kobori leads Australia's Jasper Stubbs (-3) who was away in the first group of the day, experienced the multi-seasonal weather, and signed off with a very tidy 68 – including a chip-in birdie on 2 - to be equal second with Hyun Uk Kim of South Korea.

Jasper Stubbs of Peninsula-Kingswood is well placed heading into round two at Royal Melbourne. PHOTO: AAC.

Stubbs said his goal was to be “patient and have a lot of fun.”

“It’s my first time playing in the event and I think I accomplished that today. I had a lot of fun.  I played well as a result of it.

“The chip-in was pretty awesome from the front edge of the green to start the day.  It was nice to start the birdie train,” Stubbs said.