Momoka Kobori (born 21 March 1999) is a New Zealand professional golfer. In 2022, she won the

TPS Hunter Valley The Players Series, titled as the Webex Players Series for sponsorship reasons, is a series of professional golf tournaments played in Australia with men and women competing in the same field, although they play from different tees. The series beg ...

in Australia, and two

LET Access Series The LET Access Series (LETAS) is a professional golf tour for women and the official development tour to the Ladies European Tour. Launched in 2010, the LET Access Series provides players with an opportunity to compete and progress on to the LET ...

titles in Europe.

Early life and amateur career

Kobori was born in

Karuizawa is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Karuizawa is one of the oldest and most ...

, Japan and moved to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, New Zealand with her family when she was eight. Her younger brother Kazuma is also a golfer. He won the

New Zealand PGA Championship The New Zealand PGA Championship is a golf tournament on the PGA Tour of Australasia. It is currently known for sponsorship reasons as the SEC NZ PGA Championship. History The tournament been played since 1909, with some gap periods. It was orig ...

on the

PGA Tour of Australasia The PGA Tour of Australasia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the ISPS Handa PGA Tour of Australasia, is a professional golf tour for men, owned and operated by the PGA of Australia. Official events on the tour count for World Golf Ra ...

as an amateur. Kobori was a member of the New Zealand national golf academy, and won the 2014 and 2015 Liz Douglas Trophy for the lowest women's stroke average in

. In 2015, she was runner-up at the Srixon International Junior Classic in Australia and won four times: the U16 Victorian Junior Masters, the Faldo Series Asia New Zealand Qualifying event, the South Island Stroke Play Championship, and the South Island U19 Championship. In 2016, she won the Queensland Girls Amateur and defended her title at the South Island Stroke Play Championship. She was runner-up at the

Australian Girls' Amateur The Australian Girls' Amateur is the national junior golf championship of Australia for girls. It was first played in 1953. It is run by Golf Australia. History From 1953 to 1983 the event was for "juniors" (under-21) and was played in conjunction ...

and the Muriwai Open. She made the cut at the 2016

New Zealand Women's Open The New Zealand Women's Open was a women's professional golf tournament on the ALPG Tour. It was founded in 2009 and became a co-sanctioned event on the Ladies European Tour the following year. The 2017 edition was co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour a ...

, a

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

co-sanctioned event. Kobori graduated from Rangiora High School in New Zealand in 2015. She attended

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...

near

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

and played with the Pepperdine Waves women's golf team 2016–2020. She was

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

Freshman of the Year in 2017 and an All-American as a senior in 2020. She graduated with a degree in sports medicine.

Professional career

Kobori turned professional in January 2021 and soon finished tied for first at the two-day 36-hole Whitford Park Pro-Am in Auckland at eight-under. In 2022, Kobori played on the

WPGA Tour of Australasia The WPGA Tour of Australasia, formerly known as the ALPG Tour, is a professional golf tour for women which is based in Australia. WPGA stands for Women's Professional Golfers' Association. The tour was founded as the Ladies Professional Golf Associ ...

where she was runner-up female at the

TPS Victoria The Players Series, titled as the Webex Players Series for sponsorship reasons, is a series of professional golf tournaments played in Australia with men and women competing in the same field, although they play from different tees. The series beg ...

and

TPS Murray River The Players Series, titled as the Webex Players Series for sponsorship reasons, is a series of professional golf tournaments played in Australia with men and women competing in the same field, although they play from different tees. The series beg ...

before placing first at the

in March, losing a playoff to Aaron Pike for the overall title. Kobori then finished T14 at the

Australian Ladies Classic – Bonville The Australian Women's Classic is a golf tournament co-sanctioned by WPGA Tour of Australasia Tour and the Ladies European Tour first held in 2018. It is played at the Bonville Golf Resort in Bonville, New South Wales ) , nickname = , im ...

and T12 at the

Women's NSW Open The Women's NSW Open (Women's New South Wales Open) is a women's professional golf tournament held in New South Wales, Australia. It was first played on the ALPG Tour in 2006. Beginning in 2018, the tournament was co-sanctioned by the Ladies Europe ...

, both

co-sanctioned events, before turning her attention to the

where she finished runner-up once and won twice in her first four starts.

Amateur wins

*2015 South Island Stroke Play Championship, South Island U19 Championship *2016 South Island Stroke Play Championship, Queensland Girls Amateur, Victorian Junior Masters *2019 Branch Law Firm-Dick McGuire Invitational *2020 Muriwai Open Source:

Professional wins (4)

WPGA Tour of Australasia wins (1)

LET Access Series wins (2)

Charles Tour wins (1)

*2021 Whitford Park Pro-Am (tie)

Team appearances

Amateur *New Zealand Interprovincial (representing Canterbury): 2015 (winners), 2020 *

The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship is a biennial amateur golf tournament which takes place in alternating years with the World Amateur Team Championships. The competition consists 20 countries represented by teams of four (two men a ...

(representing New Zealand): 2019

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobori, Momoka New Zealand female golfers Pepperdine Waves women's golfers People from Rangiora Sportspeople from Nagano Prefecture 1999 births Living people