Thailand’s Fifa Laopakdee became only the second player, after Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, to successfully defend the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship title in the history of the prestigious Championship. He prevailed at Te Arai Links on November 1 by three strokes to secure return trips to the Masters and The 155th Open in 2027.
This is his blog from New Zealand.
By Fifa Laopakdee
Winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship for the second time means the whole world to me. Coming into the week, I’d said I wanted to win again. I know I won it last year, but I’ve now managed to do it twice. I took it one shot at a time, stayed present and executed perfectly throughout the week at Te Arai Links.
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Becoming the second player after Hideki Matsuyama of Japan to defend the title has been on my radar. He was the only guy to accomplish it, and I now get to put my name alongside his with back-to-back wins. It is quite special, and it feels amazing to join the club.
Hideki has certainly played a huge part in golf in Japan and Asia. He’s a great player, and I hope to follow in his footsteps.
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Before the week, my coach, Matt Thurmond, told me there was no pressure as I’d already won this thing once. He reminded me that I didn’t need to put pressure on myself.
However, I wanted to prove that I was capable of winning again because this year, I hadn’t played good golf and there was a lot of self-doubt. Since this is my last AAC, I felt that I wanted to do my best, and I managed to pull it off.
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Over the past 12 months, I’ve grown more mature mentally. Reading books by Bob Rotella and Tim Gallwey has helped a lot, especially in learning from the mistakes I made throughout the year. It’s been a big learning curve.
I love reading about golf psychology. On the morning of the final round, and during the week when I had a late tee time, I would have breakfast, go back to my room, read books, write down notes in my journal and try to find something that I could use on the golf course.
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I’ve been trying to be in an ‘awareness’ mode … it’s between the ‘try’ mode and ‘unconscious’ mode. So if I’m in a ‘try’ mode, it means I’m trying because I have self-doubt and I’m trying to prove some uncertainty, so that’s not the mode I’m trying to get into. I’m trying to stay in the ‘awareness’ mode, where I’m just relaxing out there but also have a high goal and remain focused on my routine. That’s what I tried to do at Te Arai Links.
Last month, when I played in the Asian Games in Japan, I had horrible rounds on the second and third days. I went back to my room and tried to cry, but I couldn’t cry! I was in that dark place where I felt like I just wasn’t good enough.
In those tough moments, I simply couldn’t cry. Just being alone in a bedroom created a lot of self-doubt. I put pressure on myself and asked whether I was still good enough to win the AAC. Hence, during the interview after winning, I cried, and those were tears of joy.
The books I started reading have helped get me to where I am right now. I’ve so far read Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect by Rotella and The Inner Game of Golf by Gallwey after Japan, and they’ve helped me find something new.
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I’m prouder of myself this time around because I never stopped believing. I literally didn’t win a single thing since March, but I kept telling myself I’ve still got it. There was a demon in my head that said I didn’t have it anymore, but there was still a big part of me that believed in myself.
Also, a big shout-out to my friends, my family, my coaches and my teammates, who believed in me and pushed me every day. This win means a lot because I’m able to prove that I’ve still got it.
As told to Chuah Choo Chiang
