Nomura Cup Team Named***EVENT POSTPONED****

New Zealand Golf name Nomura Cup Team

New Zealand Golf have named a team with a mix of youth and experience to compete for the Nomura Cup, which is to be held at Clearwater Bay in Hong Kong.

Kazuma Kobori (Rangiora), Luke Brown (The Pines), Harry Hillier (Te Puke), and Kerry Mountcastle (Masterton) make up the four-man strong side to compete in the event from November 5 – 8. New Zealand last won the event in 1995.

Kazuma Kobori is the highest ranked Kiwi in the side as he boasts a very impressive amateur record in 2019. Kobori burst onto the scene winning the SEC NZ PGA Championship at Pegasus Golf Club by four shots. He quickly backed that up with another outstanding performance at the New Zealand Strokeplay where he finished in second.

The second player to make up the four-person side is Northland’s Luke Brown who is somewhat a veteran of the New Zealand amateur scene. Brown played in this event two years ago and helped New Zealand to a fourth-place finish. Most recently, Brown has made it through second stage of Japan Tour School in his quest to transition to the professional ranks later in the year.

Harry Hillier will make his Nomura Cup debut in Hong Kong after previously representing New Zealand at the 2017 Junior World Cup in Japan. Hillier is based in the States as he attends college at the University of Kansas. Last year he won his first college event and began 2019 with a hiss and a roar recording two second-place finishes.

The final member of the Nomura Cup side is Kerry Mountcastle. Kerry also has a very impressive amateur record, and like Kobori, has a professional win to his name. He won the Carrus Tauranga Open last year by a single stroke. He also won the New Zealand Strokeplay in 2018 and was a member of the Eisenhower team that came fourth.

New Zealand Golf’s High Performance Manager Gregg Thorpe says “while the team’s first priority is capturing the Nomura Cup this November, Clearwater Bay is also one of the Eisenhower Trophy venues for 2020, so this event also provides a great opportunity to gain experience at his stunning and unique golf course.”

The Nomura Cup, is a biennial competition rotated among the Asia-Pacific region. It was first held in the Philippines in 1963.

Conducted by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, each team consists of four male players, contesting 18 holes of stroke play for four days. In each round, the lowest three individual scores make up the team score for the round.

The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship. The winning team receives the Nomura Cup, which was named after Shun Nomura, the former Vice-President of the Japan Golf Association who donated the Cup.