Fifa Laopakdee rallies to defend Asia-Pacific Amateur title, earns return trips to Masters Tournament, The Open Championship

TOMARATA, New Zealand (AP) — Fifa Laopakdee of Thailand became the second player to go 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 trip to The Open Championship next summer at St. Andrews.

The 21-year-old Thai said he exchanged phone numbers at the last Masters with Justin Rose, who promised him a practice round if Laopakdee made it back.

“Rosey, see you at a practice round for the Masters,” Laopakdee said with a wide smile.

Laopakdee, who was three shots behind with 10 holes to play at Te Arai Links, flipped the script in one hole when he hit his approach just over the false front to 7 feet for a birdie on No. 11, while Zack Swanwick of New Zealand shockingly made a triple bogey.

That four-shot swing took Laopakdee from a two-shot deficit to a two-shot lead, and the Arizona State senior didn't give Swanwick much of a chance to catch him.

Laopakdee effectively ended it with a wedge to 4 feet on the par-3 17th for one final birdie, stretching his lead to four shots. Swanwick, who began the final round with a two-shot lead over Laopakdee and Cooper Moore, didn't make a birdie until the par-5 closing hole. He shot 75.

Laopakdee joined Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama as the only players to win consecutive years since the Asia-Pacific Amateur began in 2009.

He repeatedly shook his fists when he tapped in for par on the 18th to finish at 6-under 278 at the windblown seaside course about an hour north of Auckland.

It was a tough ending for Swanwick, trying to become the first Kiwi to win the Asia-Pacific Amateur in front of a home crowd, in a year when New Zealand celebrated another major champion in Ryan Fox at Royal Birkdale.

Swanwick, a junior at Florida, had a two-shot lead going to the 11th hole when his 6-iron was a little strong and went into a back bunker. His shot came out a fraction too strong, rolled past the pin and then off the false front into a deep swale. His chip-and-run up the slope came back to his feet. The next chip barely stayed on the green, and he missed an 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 looked like he might get it back on the par-5 13th into the wind. His second shot came up short and he pitched to 10 feet for a chance at birdie. Laopakdee drove into a sandy area and only advanced the ball some 40 yards into more sand. He laid up, then hit a wedge to 20 feet.

Laopakdee rolled in the long par putt, and Swanwick missed his birdie. Instead of a chance to tie for the lead, the Kiwi was still two behind. And on the short par-4 14th, Swanwick drilled driver onto the green, some 70 feet away. He rolled a putt over the ridge to about 8 feet, missed the birdie putt and then missed a 4-foot par putt. The four-putt bogey sent him three behind.

“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 finished alone in third at 2-under 282. Moore birdied the last hole for 75 and was another shot back. Only four players finished under par.

A year ago in Dubai, Laopakdee rallied from a six-shot deficit in the final round and won the Asia-Pacific Amateur on the third playoff hole.

Laopakdee, at No. 31 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, won the Desimone Invitational in early March at Lake Merced in San Francisco. But the rest of the year was a disappointment until Sunday.

“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.”