Defending Asia-Pacific Amateur champion Pongsapak “Fifa” Laopakdee returns to the championship with something more valuable than a trophy: experience at two major championships. His historic 2025 victory in Dubai earned the 21-year-old Thai golfer places in the 2026 Masters and The Open. Ahead of the 2026 championship at New Zealand's Te Arai Links, he described what those starts taught him—and why he does not regard an uneven season as a wasted year. His remarks were published by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation on 28 October.
What two majors taught him
Laopakdee played alongside former Masters champion Fred Couples in the opening two rounds at Augusta National. At The Open he was grouped with Sungjae Im and Dan Brown, both of whom, he recalled, opened with rounds of four under par. Those pairings gave him the opportunity to observe accomplished professionals in the middle of competition, where decision-making and emotional control are as visible as the quality of a swing.
The Thai amateur did not claim that his own performances matched his ambitions. He acknowledged that his golf at the Masters, The Open and in college competition in 2026 fell short of what he wanted. Rather than treating those results as proof of failure, he sees them as material for learning. In particular, he believes he has become more mature mentally after testing himself on stages where every mistake receives intense scrutiny.
Technique and comfort are not the same thing
Perhaps Laopakdee's most revealing observation is that he does not believe the elite professionals necessarily outdrive him or produce universally superior ball-striking. In his view, what stands out is how much more relaxed and comfortable they appear in major-championship conditions. That is his personal assessment, not a statistical claim that his driving or approach play matches theirs.
The distinction matters for any developing player. Solid contact on the practice ground does not automatically translate into clear decisions during a major. A golfer must manage the tempo of the round, commit to a target and accept the possibility of an imperfect result. Laopakdee's comments suggest that greater familiarity with this environment could help him reproduce his existing strengths when the stakes rise. They do not mean technical development has ceased to matter.
A different examination at Te Arai
The Asia-Pacific Amateur runs from 29 October to 1 November at the coastal, links-style Te Arai Links course designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. Laopakdee singled out the firmness of the greens and the importance of keeping ball flight low and the ball in play when the wind increases. Conditions may also change if rain arrives.
On exposed links terrain, the best club selection is not simply the one that matches a stock carry distance. Players must weigh wind, landing angle, ground reaction and the hazards surrounding the intended target. A lower shot is not automatically safer on every hole: the lie, fronting trouble and the need to stop the ball can call for a higher flight. This is editorial course-management analysis, rather than an additional statement attributed to Laopakdee.
A rare opportunity to defend the title
Laopakdee starts in a featured group with Australia's Harry Takis and New Zealand's Zack Swanwick. According to the championship organisers' pre-event figures, their World Amateur Golf Ranking positions were 21st and 23rd, while Laopakdee was 30th. Ranking establishes competitive context but does not settle a 72-hole championship.
A successful defence would make him just the second player to win consecutive Asia-Pacific Amateur titles, after Hideki Matsuyama in 2010 and 2011. Lin Yuxin also won twice, in 2017 and 2019, but not in successive years. The 2026 champion stands to receive invitations to the 2027 Masters and The Open at St Andrews.
For Laopakdee, the immediate question is practical rather than historical: can experience gained alongside the world's best make him more comfortable when his title is on the line? The answer will come on the firm greens and in the coastal wind at Te Arai.
Source: Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, Spencer Robinson, 28 October 2026.
