Higa finishes one shot shy of Peake in New Zealand

Kazuki Higa closed with a final round five-under-par 66 to finish one shot back of Australia’s Ryan Peake in tied-second at the New Zealand Open.

The 2023 JGTO Money Ranking champion signed off with a four-day total of 22-under-par 262 to share second place with South Africa’s Ian Snyman and Australia’s Jack Thompson at the Millbrook Resort in Queenstown.

Higa was among the 20 JGTO members in the field. Taichi Nabetani signed off in tied-15^th place after rounds of 67, 66, 69 and 66 while Ren Yonezawa posted a final round 69 to end in a share of 29^th place.

Ryosuke Kinoshita (T40), Daisuke Kataoka (T64) and Ryo Ishikawa (68) were among the six Japanese players who made the weekend cut at the event jointly sanctioned by the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia, and the Asian Tour, in partnership with the Japan Golf Tour.