Success on world stage didn't come easily for Marksaeng

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Prayad Marksaeng briefly held the lead in the second round of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

DORAL, Fla. -- For much of this balmy, breezy Friday afternoon, the names Mickelson, Singh and Marksaeng jockeyed for position at the top of the leaderboard at Doral's Blue Monster.

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Only, it was India's Jeev Milkha Singh, not Vijay, he of the Fijian branch of the "family," who was battling Phil Mickelson during the second round of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

And while the American was putting that awesome short game on display, chipping in for birdie for the third time this week, Prayad Marksaeng, the diminutive golfer from Thailand, was also turning heads, tied for the lead until he triple-bogeyed his 36th hole.

By day's end, Mickelson may have been leading alone, but players from Northern Ireland, Colombia, Australia, Spain, England, South African and Denmark had joined the fray.

And that's exactly what the World Golf Championships were designed to do. The International Federation of PGA Tours launched this global series in 1999 to provide more opportunities for the world's best to compete against each other.

Tiger Woods admittedly has dominated the World Golf Championships -- and everything else in the game -- but players like Singh, Prayad and Rory McIlroy, the talented teen from Northern Ireland, are being introduced to a broader audience this week.

Diversity and dedication are the benchmarks of them all. Take Prayad, for example.

He grew up in poverty in the resort town of Hua Hin on the southern coast of Thailand. One of 12 children, who slept together in one big room on the top floor of the family's two-story house, Prayad left school after just four years to try to make some money.

The Royal Hua Hin Country Club was nearby, and he started caddying, earning the equivalent of $3 for an 18-hole loop. At the same time, Prayad made himself a golf club from bamboo, using a bicycle tire to fashion a grip, and taught himself to play the game.

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Marksaeng, 43, has six victories on the Asian Tour.

Each club lasted about a month. He'd climb trees and look for lost balls to use. When someone suggested Friday that the set of Callaways he now uses to ply his trade was quite an improvement, Prayad, who understands more English than he speaks, didn't wait for the translation before he grinned.

Prayad also drove a three-wheeled taxi, starting at 4 o'clock in the morning and picking up fares at the local market until 10, when he'd head for the golf club. And when he wasn't caddying, you could find him at the railroad station, helping his mother sell food on the trains.

Prayad even tried to make money as a kickboxer. He was knocked out in both of his fights, though -- "very painful," he said knowingly through his interpreter and manager, Pimporn Rojsattarat. He won the equivalent of $1.50 for his second bout.

"So many things I have done because I need some money for survival and for my family, also," he said.

Golf was always his passion, though.

The owner of Royal Hua Hin, Khun Santi Bhirombhakdi, recognized Prayad's talent and asked him to join his "Rising Star" team. The club would stay open late so the young men could hit balls and practice.

Prayad also credits the game with saving him from following some of his friends, who were drug addicts, down the wrong path.

"I was lucky that I lived around a golf course and I saw so many, many men play golf, and then they got money, thinking about maybe I can take that as a career," the 43-year-old recalled. "So I thought early about golf competition.

"I forgot about drugs and friends and society like that. I don't smoke and I don't drink. It's safer."

Prayad, following in the footsteps of Sukree Onsham and Thongchai Jaidee, has won six times on the Asian Tour and three more in Japan. He's gone from pinching pennies to making millions, but the memory of his humble beginnings is never far away.

"I tell you what, he's done from where he's come from and what he means to all of the people in Thailand; obviously my mom talks highly of him," said Woods, whose mother Kultida is Thai.

"It's pretty incredible he's been as successful as he has been considering his starting point."

Prayad is hoping to get another chance to play in the Masters this year. He received a special invitation in 2008 and had to withdraw with a pulled muscle after 27 holes. This year he's five rungs on the Official World Golf Ranking from earning his way in.

A good weekend at Doral would do wonders for Prayad -- in more ways than one. The most important thing, though, is to perform to the best of his ability.

"He was lucky that he got a lot of good supporters," Rojsattarat said in translation. "(They) teach him you have chance to play golf so you have to play your best. Don't ever lose that chance."