AUGUSTA, Georgia — Pongsapak “Fifa” Laopakdee walked into Augusta National this week and found his locker between Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau. The 21-year-old junior at Arizona State University took a picture, then tried to take in what comes next: his Masters debut in the 90th edition of the tournament.
“It’s amazing – walking into the locker room today and my locker’s between Tiger and Bryson. That’s a lot to soak in! I took a picture of that,” Laopakdee said Monday. He is one of six amateurs in the field this week, and he earned his spot six months ago with a play-off victory in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai.
The detail that makes his week stand out is not just where he is playing, but who he is playing for. Laopakdee is the first amateur to represent Thailand at the Masters, a small distinction on paper and a large one in a country that has not had a player in this spot before. He won the individual gold medal in the men’s golf tournament at the Southeast Asian Games late last year, then carried that form into Dubai and onto the largest stage in the sport.
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Fred Ridley hosted the traditional annual Amateur Dinner, part of the week’s formal welcome for the event’s non-professional players, and Laopakdee said the treatment has matched the occasion. “It’s amazing. These guys that we always watch on TV and now you get to play in the same event as them – in one of the most prestigious events and one of the most prestigious golf courses in the world. You couldn’t ask for anything better,” he said. He added that the hospitality “is amazing” and that staff know the amateurs’ backgrounds and treat them “like kings.”
For Laopakdee, the week is as much about managing attention as managing the golf course. He said the Thai fans have been very nice to him and have his back, but that he is trying to stay inside his own bubble. “Everything is in the practice, what we do on the range. That’s the thing I can control,” he said. “I can’t control what people in Thailand and Asia think about me as a player or as a person. I’m just trying to control what I can control. I can control my mind. I’m just trying to stay in my own bubble, stay in the present and let the result take care of itself.”
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That calm showed on Monday, when he said he was pretty calm and collected on the course and did not feel much nerves. The sharper test comes Thursday, when he expects the first-tee jitters that usually greet a Masters debut. He said even the best players feel them, and that this is what he has trained for. For Thailand, the answer is already written in the field sheet: fifa laopakdee is not just at Augusta National for himself, but as the first amateur from his country to stand on golf’s most watched stage.
