Thai novice secures spots in Masters, Open

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Pongsapak “Fifa” Laopakdee rallied from a six-shot deficit with a 4-under 68 and beat 16-year-old Taisei Nagasaki of Japan on the third playoff to win the Asia-Pacific Newbie, sending him to the Masters and the Open Championship subsequent yr.

Laopakdee, a junior at Arizona State, turned the primary participant from Thailand to win the championship that started in 2010.

The successful shot for Laopakdee turned out to be a 6-iron that cleared the water with inches to spare on the 18th of the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Membership, staying on the slope simply past the yellow hazard line. From there, it was a easy up-and-down for his fifth straight birdie courting to the seventeenth gap in regulation.

Laopakdee mentioned he had advised Arizona State coach Matt Thurmond, “I am going to win this occasion and be the primary Thai novice to play within the Masters.”

He regarded into the digital camera after it was over and mentioned, “Coach, I did it!”

Nagasaki, who began the ultimate spherical with a five-shot lead over Rintaro Nakano, was tied with Laopakdee after a two-shot swing on the fifteenth gap. However the Japanese teen responded by making an 18-foot birdie on the sixteenth, driving the reachable par-4 seventeenth for a birdie and hit an beautiful chip to 4 toes on the par-5 closing gap.

However he missed the birdie putt for the win, closing with a 74 to affix Laopakdee at 15-under 273. Laopakdee needed to get up-and-down from a again bunker to birdie the final two. He shot 5-under 32 on the again 9.

“After I completed 18, I did not even know I shot 5-under par on the again 9,” Laopakdee mentioned. “It was wonderful golf. Shout out to Taisei. He made my life so laborious.”

Extra sensational pictures adopted within the playoff. Nagasaki selected to put up on the 18th and clipped a wedge over the water to 2 toes for birdie to remain within the playoff after Laopakdee made birdie from behind the inexperienced.

Laopakdee used his energy to arrange one other easy up-and-down on the reachable seventeenth within the playoff, and Nagasaki matched his birdie with one other excellent pitch.

However on the 18th for the third playoff gap, Nagasaki went effectively left of the inexperienced, and his chip from a sticky lie got here out heavy and left him some 35 toes away. He two-putted for par.

“Very upset,” Nagasaki mentioned by an interpreter as he used his shirt to wipe away tears. “I actually struggled to make a rating.”

Nakano closed with a 71 and completed third for the second straight yr.