TELFER’S THOUGHTS 28.4.26

It was shaping up as a big week for our big names. Unfortunately the early sizzle quickly turned to fizzle and with Ryan Fox having a week off, what followed was a low for the likes of Lydia Ko, Daniel Hillier and Kazuma Kobori.

The biggest disappointment was the showing of Lydia. She lined up in Houston at the Chevron Championship for the first women’s Major of the year. Her form in 2026 meant she entered as one of the favourites. From her 6 starts on the LPGA Tour this year, Lydia had notched 3 top 5 finishes and a tie for 11th in her last start prior to the Chevron.

She began the Championship with a solid, if not spectacular, opening par round of 72, although it did leave her whole 7 shots behind Nellie Korda, the eventual winner. Her second round began promisingly enough with 3 birdies along with 2 bogeys on the front nine. That, however, was the end of the good stuff, as golfers like to say, as she battled her way fruitlessly through the back nine where she ran up 4 bogeys, no birdies and just 4 pars. Most unlike Lydia Ko golf, it must be said. On the last hole, a par 4, Lydia was on for 2 and had about a 15-foot putt for birdie. It was a putt she knew she had to sink in order to make the cut. Alas the putt didn’t drop and she tapped in for a

second round of 75, missing the cut by 1 shot. It was just the 6th time in 69 Major Championship starts that Lydia had missed the cut.

Life unfortunately wasn’t much better for Daniel Hillier in the China Open, his first start on the DP World Tour since he won the NZ Open in Queenstown back in March. The long break didn’t appear to have done his game much harm as he opened with a rock-solid 68, 4 under par and comfortably inside the top 10 going into Day 2. His fate at this point unfortunately was to bear a remarkable similarity to that experienced by Lydia Ko across the other side of the Atlantic. On Day 2 he was going along nicely. At the turn he was 1 over par but two birdies on 9 and 10 got him back in touch with the leaders. Two more pars had him comfortably inside the cut when suddenly the wheels came off his round. A double bogey 6 on 14 followed by 2 bogeys on 16 and 18 saw him sign his card

for 73 and a missed cut, like Lydia, by 1 shot.

Daniel would have been unhappy at not playing the weekend after a long break but there was enough good stuff in those first 31 holes to suggest his best is not far off. All of which meant Kazuma Kobori was the only Kiwi out of Ko, Hillier and himself to make a cut last week. Kazuma, having just his second start after a month-long lay-off like his compatriot Daniel Hillier, began very solidly with a 2 under par 69 and followed it up with another sub-par round on Day 2 to make the cut comfortably enough. Another even par round on the third day left him in good shape for a top 20 finish but it wasn’t to be. He too lost his consistency on Day 4. His blues began on the second hole, a par 3,

which saw make double bogey. He recovered well enough with 3 birdies mixed in with 2 bogeys, then disaster befell the young Kiwi when he got into all sorts of trouble on 18, having to settle for a costly and painful triple bogey 8 which inevitably saw him tumble down the leaderboard to finish in a tie for 58 h place, dropping 13 places on just 1 hole. It emphasised very clearly and painfully for young Kazuma how ruthless professional golf can be at this level.