Last year, Thailand’s Fifa Laopakdee stormed back from six shots down on Sunday to win the 2025 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Dubai, punching his ticket to the 2026 Masters and Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. That day at Emirates Golf Club, the Arizona State Sun Devil said he sings songs to calm his nerves during big tournaments, a mental hack he borrowed from fellow Thai star Jeeno Thitikul.
Leaning on Bruno Mars worked, as Laopakdee beat Japan’s Taisei Nagasaki on the third playoff hole to earn a spot in two of golf’s most prestigious championships.
“I’ve been watching the Masters since I could remember, like 2- or 3-years-old, watching Tiger dominating,” Laopakdee said last year after winning in Dubai. “The Masters is why I start to love golf. I always get emotional watching someone win. I also watch a lot of British Open throughout the years. Being able to follow that path with the pros, it’s just unreal.”
Laopakdee teed it up at Augusta and Royal Birkdale in 2026, missing the cut at both but gaining valuable major championship experience. To put that experience to the test, Laopakdee had to do what only one other player in history has done: defend his title at the Asia-Pacific Amateur this week at Te Arai Links on New Zealand’s North Island coast. Laopakdee opened with a 63 but found himself two shots back with 10 holes to play on Sunday. But with a trip to Augusta and St. Andrew on the line, the Arizona State senior bidied 9, 11 and 17 to reach six under for the tournament and beat New Zealand’s Zack Swanick, who led entering Sunday, by three shots.
With the win, Laopakdee became only the second player to repeat as Asia-Pacific Amateur champion, joining Hideki Matsuyama, who did so in 2010 and 2011. While Laopakdee’s stirring come-from-behind win in Dubai was momentous last year, he said this one, with the winds whipping off the Pacific Ocean, meant more given the trying year he’d had on the collegiate level.
“I feel like I’m more proud of myself this year because I never stopped believing in myself, even though I had a tough year,” Laopakdee said after shooting a one-under 70 to catch and pass Swanick. “I literally didn’t win a single thing since March. I just keep telling myself that I’ve still got it.”
Laopakdee was the co-champion at the Desimone Invitational in March but struggled the rest of the season while also failing to make the cut at Augusta or Royal Birkdale. But he said that experience at Augusta and Birkdale helped steady him during a trying college season and prepare him for Sunday’s roller coaster at Te Arai.
“I’m a lot more mature mentally,” Laopakdee said. “I didn’t play good golf the whole year. It’s been a big learning curve year for me. When you get to live like a real professional golfer’s life at the Masters and the Open, you share the same locker room, share the same dining hall, share the same practice round, you get to experience how those people live. I just learned from it and it made me a lot more mature, and I’ve started to read books now that help with my brain now. I love reading about golf psychology, like the Bob Rotella book.
“This morning, the whole week, when I had a late tee time, I wake up, eat breakfast, go back to my room, read books, write down notes in my journal and try to find something that I can use on the course, and it worked out perfectly.”
Laopakdee had to fall back on those lessons on Sunday at Te Arai. He started the day trailing Swanick by two but dropped two strokes over his first eight holes to fall down the leaderboard. But he never wavered, and after making birdie at the ninth, everything changed on the par-4 11th. Laopakdee arrived at the tee two shots behind Swanick, but the New Zealander’s approach found the greenside bunker and his pitch out rolled off the front of the green. Swanick eventually made a triple bogey, and when Laopakdee rolled in his birdie putt, he led by two.
“It was a huge momentum shift, that’s for sure,” Laopakdee said of the 11th. “My hand was shaking right after the [putt on 11], since I know that I’m a leader. I just keep telling myself I’m still going to play like I’m behind, and I’m still going to think in my head that he’s still leading. Still playing the game like I’m not a leader. Still be aggressive but also play smart. I think I played it perfectly coming down the stretch.”
He did just that, making five straight pars before a birdie at 17 put the finishing touches on a historic win that will send Laopakdee back to Augusta and to the Open at St. Andrews.
“Yeah, it’s always on my radar to do what he did; that feels amazing to join the club,” Laopakdee said. “Hideki has played a huge part in golf for Japan, and also Asia. He’s a great player. I hope to follow his footsteps.”
After placing his name alongside Matsuyama’s, Fifa Laopakdee looked to the future — one that has two more major championship starts that he feels me is more prepared to face after a difficult season and an APA win that meant even more than the first.
“This year, I was not that confident out there [at Augusta] compared to my roommates, but next year, I’ll definitely be a lot more calm and collected and keep my composure,” Laopakdee said. “I’m really looking forward to both Augusta and St. Andrews.”
No matter what happens next year at Augusta or St. Andrews, Laopakdee will be unfazed because he’s already proven to himself that he can withstand the devastating blows competitive golf delivers and that he’s tough enough to dust himself off and go again.
“This win means a lot because I’m able to prove to myself that I’ve still got it.”
