TOMARATA, New Zealand (AP) — Fifa Laopakdee of Thailand grew to become the second participant to win back-to-back in the Asia-Pacific Amateur with another Sunday comeback, this time without having to win in a playoff. He closed with a 1-under 70 for a three-shot victory.
That sends Laopakdee back to Augusta National in April for the Masters, along with a return journey to the British Open next summer time at St. Andrews.
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The 21-year-old Thai said he exchanged telephone numbers at the last Masters with Justin Rose, who promised him a apply spherical if Laopakdee made it back.
“Rosey, see you at a practice round for the Masters,” Laopakdee said with a vast smile.
Laopakdee, three photographs behind with 10 holes to play at Te Arai Links, flipped the script in one gap when he hit his strategy just over the false entrance to 7 toes for a birdie on No. 11, and Zack Swanwick of New Zealand shockingly took a triple bogey.
That four-shot swing took Laopakdee type a two-shot deficit to a two-shot lead, and the Arizona State senior did not give Swanwick much of a probability to catch him.
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Laopakdee successfully ended it with a wedge to 4 toes on the par-3 seventeenth for one last birdie, stretching his lead to 4 photographs. Swanwick, who started the last spherical with a two-shot lead over Laopakdee and Cooper Moore, did not make a birdie until the par-5 closing gap. He shot 75.
Laopakdee joined Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama as the only gamers to win consecutive years since the Asia-Pacific Amateur started in 2009.
He repeatedly shook his fists when he tapped in for par on the 18th to end at 6-under 278 at the wind-blown seaside course about an hour north of Auckland.
It was a robust ending for Swanwick, making an attempt to become the first Kiwi to win the Asia-Pacific Amateur in entrance of a home crowd, in a yr when New Zealand celebrated another main champion in Ryan Fox at Royal Birkdale.
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Swanwick, a junior at Florida, had a two-shot lead going to the eleventh gap when his 6-iron was a little robust and went into a back bunker. His shot came out a fraction too robust, rolled previous the pin and then off the false entrance into a deep swale. His chip-and-run up the slope came back to his toes. The next chip barely stayed on the inexperienced and he missed then 8-foot putt to take triple bogey.
“Middle of the green, make par and get out of there,” Swanwick said. “I hit into the bunker, just flew the bunker shot a little too far and got a little too cute with the chip. Just had a few mistakes that cost me.”
Swanwick seemed he might get it back on the par-5 thirteenth into the wind. His second shot came up short and he pitched to 10 toes for a probability at birdie. Laopakdee drove into a sandy space, and only superior the ball some 40 yards into more sand. He laid up, then hit wedge to 20 toes.
Laopakdee rolled in the long par putt, and Swanwick missed his birdie. Instead of a probability to tie for the lead, the Kiwi was still two behind. And on the short par-4 14th, Swanwick drilled driver onto the inexperienced, some 70 toes away. He rolled a putt over the ridge to about 8 toes, missed the birdie putt and the missed the 4-foot par putt. The four-putt bogey despatched him three behind.
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“It was tough luck for Zack on 11, it was super windy,” Laopakdee said. “I somehow hit a great second shot and made birdie and it created huge momentum for me.”
Kayun Mudadana of Australia closed with a 67 and completed alone in third at 2-under 282. Moore birdied the last gap for 75 and was another shot back. Only 4 gamers completed under par.
A yr in the past in Dubai, Laopakdee rallied from a six-shot deficit in the last spherical and won the Asia-Pacific on the third playoff gap.
Laopakdee, at No. 31 in the world novice rating, won the Desimone Invitational in early March at Lake Merced in San Francisco. But the relaxation of the yr was a disappointment until Sunday.
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“This is one of the last events of the year, and I wanted to prove to myself that I’ve still got it,” he said. “To pull it off, it means the whole world to me.”
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