The 19-year-old claimed the Otago Strokeplay Championships title as his nearest competitor crumbled at the Otago Golf Club yesterday.
Kobori shot an eight-under-par 205 over the three rounds to win the title by eight strokes from Russley’s Zachary May.
However, it had been Otago’s Ben Patston he had duelled with most of the way.
Patston hit three triple-bogeys in the final six holes during a final-round 12-over-par 83.
That left him shooting 218 for the tournament, plummeting to a tie for third with Joseph Hancock (St Clair) and Tom Lee (Otago).
Patston and Kobori had battled evenly through the first two rounds on Saturday.
A 3-under-par 68 from Patston gave him a one-shot lead after the first round.
However, Kobori showed why he has been such a highly touted prospect, responding with a 65 to take a one-stroke lead heading into the final round.
The pair matched each other through the first 11 holes yesterday, before a bogey on the par-3 12th from Patston opened the gap to two strokes.
At that point the collapse began.
Both players got themselves into trouble on the 13th.
But while Kobori did well to hit out of it and claim par, Patston could not.
He triple-bogeyed the hole, and struggled to keep composure from there.
Patston hooked his tee shot on the 14th into the trees on the left, just 50m from the tee.
Again it was too much trouble to get out of, and he notched another triple bogey as Kobori managed another par.
Patston recomposed himself to par two holes, before again hitting the trees on the right on the 17th.
It resulted in yet another triple bogey.
Meanwhile Kobori’s drive went close to the green, and he finished off a birdie to add another stroke to his lead.
He finished with a bogey on the 18th, although the the title was well and truly decided by that point.
Russley’s Maddie May showed her class to claim the women’s title, while Hancock claimed the division two title by one-shot over William McLauchlan.
Riversdale’s Daniel Elder claimed the division three title, and Murray Edgar won the masters grade.
